Orders of the Company
by Narutolovesraman
Summary: Rukia is assigned to assassinate Aizen for the presumed murders of his students. But things don't always go according to plan. Not only does she have to deal with unwanted surprises, she must become...a college guy. AU ichiruki DROPPED :
1. Orders

-1**Hey. I don't know where the idea for this story came from, it just popped into my head, and I just started writing. So I know it's not well-polished or it's not the best fan fiction ever, but with reviews, and tips on your part, and me working hard on my part, I hope to make this an enjoyable story. So have fun. Any reviews are greatly appreciated, as they feed the squirrel that entertains my dog, so that my dog is entertained and I don't have to take him out on a walk and therefore have more time to update this story. XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Well, only the detergent. **

"Hitsugaya-taichou!" The captain in question paused and turned around.

"Orders from the chief. It's about the school mur…" Hitsugaya clamped his hand over the messengers mouth and took the piece of paper from his grasp. His eyes slowly widened, and his face paled.

"This is…" He turned to the messenger. "Have you told anyone else about this?"

"Not yet sir, but…"

"You are to tell no one else about this, do you understand?"

"But…"

"I said, do you _understand?_"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Your new assignment." Byakuya pushed a folder towards her. "You will assimilate the life of one college student of Kuchiki, Ryoko. You start tomorrow."

She stared at him in shock. "What?" She spluttered. "What does my line of work have anything to do with me becoming a college student? I haven't been in school since high school, and that was _2 years ago."_

Byakuya twitched angrily. "Are you questioning my orders?"

"Not at all nii-sama." She quipped.

"You are to regard me as Captain in all business matters. You need not be reminded." He responded icily. "And you'd know the answer to your question if you actually read the file for once." He added.

Her gaze shifted guiltily to the folder. He knew that she preferred not to pour over an inch thick packet for information that could be conveyed with a few words. But she had to agree that the file was there for a reason and that analysis documents were useful. Once in a while.

"Part of your job will be to assassinate a teacher by the name of…" He flipped through the file since his sister obviously wasn't going to. "…Aizen. It seems that he's behind the disposal of four or five students in the area. The other part is the tricky part. It's to find out where the bodies of these students are. First. "

Rukia felt momentarily squeamish. It wasn't like she hadn't worked with corpses or killed people before. Rather it was the fact that a teacher would take advantage of his student that unbalanced her. Something like that was just beyond inhuman. Recovering, she picked up the folder and bowed.

"Understood." Byakuya gazed down at her through his spectacles and watched as Rukia prepared to leave the room.

"You might've noticed your rather _boyish_ alias." Rukia stopped, and glanced at her brother suspiciously. "The class that Aizen-_sensei_ teaches is strictly limited to the male race, so…" He put in a glare as Rukia promptly dropped the file. It was bad enough that she didn't read it, but she didn't have to throw it on the ground. "…you'll be a guy during your assignment."

"_What?!_"

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Rukia fiddled mournfully with her hair. Her brother had insisted that they cut her hair so that no "accidents" could happen. She didn't know why she was so upset. It would all grow back in time, and it wasn't like she was usually this fickle. But still. _It was her hair. _

At least the car had dropped her off near the entrance so she didn't have to walk much with her chest bound the way it was. Nii-sama had said that if anyone asked she had a chest condition. Pfft. As if anyone would believe that.

There was one thing that she did appreciate about the whole façade. The uniform was reasonably comfortable. The gray slacks provided ample room for her legs, and the baggy shirt didn't restrict her already restricted chest. As for the tie, it didn't choke her as much as the vicious stories her colleagues had told her about them seemed to suggest. As most guys didn't wear it properly, the "Captain" had insisted that neither did she. And this had solved her predicament. At least that one anyways.

Sighing, she fixed her book bag, and made for the entrance. The school was relatively big. She reckoned it'd take her at least a couple of months, maybe a semester, to go through the building thoroughly without getting caught. But that was with inside help. Who knew how long it'd take her without it, as Byakuya had made it clear that no outside help would be sent in. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice two people barreling towards her.

"Oi! Midget, move outta the way!…OI! I said move! MOVE I SAY!" Obviously the poor bastard was being ignored. Rukia smirked to herself. She wondered who he was talking to. "WHAT THE HELL. You freaking raven-haired midget. MO-" Was he actually talking to _her?_ And who the hell was he calling a midget? Her thoughts were interrupted as a mass of orange hair obscured her vision.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Are you deaf as well as vertically challenged?" Rukia bristled with anger.

"I should be saying that to you, you carrot top. People usually respond to _names._ Maybe you've heard of it."

"Why you son of a…"The rude carrot was interrupted as a red-haired person took off down towards the entrance.

"Gimme back my ID card you…" He was gone as fast as he came. And Rukia, seething, was left to pick herself up.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hitsugaya was very troubled. The letter he'd received earlier was hastily hidden in his desk. What it contained…could cause the failure of the mission that Kuchiki-taichou had just sent his subordinate…his sister…out on. If he knew…he would recall her right away. His sister's life was precious to him, and it pained him to let her do these sorts of tasks.

But Hitsugaya knew that if Rukia was withdrawn now, the Company would have no chance at passing judgment on that fiend. Instead, he would disappear. Perhaps to install himself in some other area of the country, and it would take the Company another 2-3 years to find him again. Again. This was the second time that the Company was trying to pass judgment on Aizen. The first time…the first time, their colleague had ended up dead. And his skill level was high. Very high. Probably higher then Rukia's. Hitsugaya still didn't understand why Kuchiki-taichou actually gave the job to his sister of all people.

He pressed the buzzer. "Yes sir?"

"Send up Abarai, Renji."

"Yes sir."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Room 220...220...220..." Rukia threw up her hands in frustration. To hell with it. She was lost.

"You lost, kid?" Rukia looked up from the school map about to tell the guy off. She stopped herself because she wasn't going to kill someone that could potentially get her un-lost.

"You know where room 220 is?" The guy looked at her like she was insane.

"That's on the other side of the school. These are rooms from 500-1000."

Rukia glared at him in indignation. "That's not what the map says." She said, viciously jabbing at it.

"That's cause you're holding it backwards."

**Oh dear. Wonder who her room mate is. And what is this "limited to males only" class that Aizen teaches? Remember, reviews feed the rabid squirrels. O_O **


	2. Among Roommates

**Haha. So today was literally the worst day. Ever. I was horribly depressed cause I'm pretty sure I got a zero on my Chemistry test 'cause I misunderstood the format. (So stupid! GAH!) So…while I have A's and B's in almost (thanks to Chem) all honors classes, I'm failing (if I really did get a zero) Chem. So horrible. But when I came back home and decided to check my reviews, I was pleasantly surprised by some more. And since I'm exceedingly bored and depressed, I decided to update again for all of my awesome reviewers. =D Many thanks to: Chrisheller, Miichiya Mikan, Beyond Flight, Any (Anon.), DanceOfTheWhiteMoon, and Pyromaniac-Girl. I REALLY enjoyed reading you're comments. **

**Anyways on to the mistakes that seemed to scatter my last chapter. I'm really sorry. D: Every time I saw one, I mentally slapped myself. The comma splicing in my author's note last time nearly killed me. I promise to try and have better grammar next/this time. ;D **

**Just to clear up something, this is taking place at the start of a semester. This scene, though, might be way off since I'm not in college. **

**Remember, reviews help me. A lot. You have my never-ending gratitude for all/any reviews you submit. :3**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach. Not even the detergent. My dog spilled the last of it yesterday. ^^" I take it he was bored. **

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Renji relinquished the ID to the ground when his cell phone started to vibrate. "Sorry Ichigo. We'll hafta conclude this later." He flipped it open, eyes darting across the screen. "I'll see ya at the initiation ceremony tomorrow morn'. Right now," He stupidly puffed out his chest. "I, am needed elsewhere"

Ichigo bent to pick up his ID. "OI. Stop acting so conceited you pig. It's probably you're mom. And you are NOT getting off that easy!" But when Ichigo straightened up, Renji was gone. "GOD DAMNIT. Not again! I'll get you back later tonight, ass!" He yelled throwing up his arms, but not before he had his ID firmly secured in his wallet.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She was holding it backwards. _SHE WAS HOLDING IT BACKWARDS._ The great ranked officer Kuchiki, Rukia, got lost because she was holding a goddamned map _backwards._ Still grumbling to herself, Rukia made her way to the sign that read...DORMS…in big red letters. The trip from the other side of the school, because of…to put it lightly…her lack of the height factor, took nearly an hour to complete. Needless to say, Rukia was pissed when she reached the dorms. Not counting the embarrassing map incident, she had gotten lost a total of five times. She had even ended up in the kitchen which almost turned out to be as embarrassing if not more so then the map incident. Luckily, she was able to escape with her dignity when more lost souls stumbled in.

"216...218..." Rukia stopped at the next room. "FINALLY. Room 220." She fumbled through her bag for the key. "Where is it," she mumbled to herself. She allowed herself a quick, triumphant grin when she had secured the card in her hand. "Now to get in the room…" She slid in the key, momentarily forgetting about her ghostly roommate. The door clicked open, and she pushed herself into the room.

"Finally I can stop with the stupid pret…" She froze when she came into contact with a half-naked body. Correction. A half-naked _male_ body. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" She roared, running out of the room and slamming the door behind her. Regaining her composure, she jiggled the knob. Locked. Oh hell no. This wouldn't have been much of a problem if her key was in her hand and not on the floor of what was supposed to be her dorm (she had dropped them in disgust/fright).

She struggled with herself for a couple of minutes.

Eventually she managed to beat down her pride and knock on the door. She was relieved to say that her roommate had had the decency to finish putting on his shirt. Her relief was short-lived when she recognized the smirking orange-haired idiot. "You sounded like a girl. _Oh put a shirt on_," He mocked. "What the hell are you, gay?" Rukia resisted the urge to grab a pair of scissors and behead the bastard. " 'Course it's not like I have anything against fags…"

"Shut the hell up, asshole." She hissed. And ignoring the warning bells going off in her head, she kicked him in the shin. "Any decent person changes in the bathroom. Regardless of gender. And I am _not…_" Oh screw the irony. "_…a fag._ Any _normal_ person would be able to see that."

"You sure do act like it, you freaking violent midget." Seems he had recognized her as well. "And YOU ARE the one who stormed into MY dorm uninvited."

"UNINVITED. _UNINVITED. _I LIVE HERE. Who the hell do you think you are, you bleached idiot!?"

"This isn't your dorm. It's MY dorm." Both parties rummaged through their stuff and yanked out a sheet of paper.

"See here!? Assigned to room 22.." They both trailed off as they stared at each others form. Roommates. _They were freaking roommates. _

"Oh shit no."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What does he want with me now?" He grumbled, making his way down the hallway. He had enough trouble with his own captain. So why did he hafta obey another one!? And for another thing, why DID he obey the other one!? He stopped in front of a paneled door. Despite all his complaints against Hitsugaya-taichou, he still conjured up a respectful demeanor before knocking on it. The response was almost simultaneous.

"Come in." He walked in to find Hitsugaya writing a letter. It seemed to be stressful, as a couple of the young captain's veins were pulsing rather rapidly.

"Taichou." He stood in front of the desk and decidedly stared at a spot on the wall a couple of inches above Hitsugaya's head. "You wanted to see me?"

Histsugaya paused the letter and looked up. "You are to un-enroll from the school. Effective immediately." Now that it wasn't being used to write the letter, he held the pen idly in his hands.

"I can't do that." Hitsugaya began twirling the pen he was holding.

"You can. You must. You will." _Twirl. Twirl._ Renji watched the pen in rapt fascination.

_Twirl._ "I have just enrolled in that school, _sir._ Under your orders."

"And those orders have changed." _Twirl._

"You told me I could enroll in that school with Kurosaki, Ichigo. You said it would be fine. You said it wouldn't interfere with the company. This is only my second year there." _Twirl._

"Times have changed. That school is now the basis of an investigation." Renji suppressed a shudder. By investigation, he obviously meant assassination. Even though he'd been in the company for many years, he never got used to killing people for however good of a reason.

"But, taichou…"

"You must enroll. This capture…" By that he means _death._ Why did he have to pretend that the company wasn't what it was? _Murder_ for the common good. "…is vitally important to the entire society. It. Cannot. Go. Wrong. Because of one stubborn vice-captain. I will here no more of it. You will withdraw tonight. Do I make myself clear?" _Twirl._

Renji suppressed the rage that was crawling up his entire body. _One. Stubborn. Vice-captain? _Why that conniving little…_Twir…_The pen dropped. Hitsugaya swept back a stray piece of his platinum blond hair as he bent to retrieve the fallen utensil. Renji stayed unusually quiet. Hitsugaya sat back up.

"Ah. Understood, _sir._" He left the room.

"Sometimes, that man irritates me to no end," Hitsugaya muttered to no one in particular. "Does he think the whole world revolves around him? It's not like he can't get into a different college… Now where did I put that letter…" He rifled through the numerous papers on his desk. He could've sworn…could he have possibly…somehow managed to…did _he_ take the letter out of anger? But how could he have possibly taken it without him…The pen. Damn himself and his pen spinning ways. "Renji." He jerked himself out of the desk and ran to the door.

"_DAMNIT. RENJI!!! Get back with my letter!!"_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"That's my bed. Get off." He growled. The two of them had temporarily called a truce and introduced themselves after they had gotten over the initial shock of being dorm buddies. "That one," he jerked his thumb over to the one above it. "Is yours." It didn't seem like there was a truce anymore. As far as he was concerned, this Kuchiki person had just broken it in 30 seconds flat.

Rukia pouted, "Aw come on Kurosaki. Can't I have the bottom bunk? I'm afraid of heights." She paused for a moment as she realized that it might have sounded a tad girly.

"Pfft. I can see why."

She threw his pillow at him.

"I'm _your senior_ and I was here first," his face flushed from the pillow attack. "so I deserve the bottom bunk. _NOW GET YOUR BUTT OFF MY BED._"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The stupid god-damned midget must have super powers or somethin. He couldn't even remember what had happened in the last five minutes. All he knew was that he and the rest of his stuff were now situated on the very bunk he tried to make Kuchiki sit on.

"Ah, Ichigo. You're just too easy." Hey. _Hey. _

"It's Kurosaki-_sama_ midget." Rukia glanced up at him coyly.

"I-chi-_go._" She taunted. Ichigo's vein pulsed. Two could play at that game.

"Ry-o-_ko._" Rukia stared at him. Who the hell was Ryoko? Then it hit her in the face. _She_ was Ryoko.

"That's Kuchiki-_sama_, Ichigo." She said it sweetly,but the words were laced with venom.

"Ryoko."

"_Ichigo._"

"Argh! If you're calling me by name, I should get to call you by name." He scowled. "Fair's only fair."

Rukia smiled triumphantly. "Sure."

Ichigo sank into momentary confusion. _And why did that take so long?_ This Ryoko person was almost as baffling as a girl. Come to think of it, the fact that he was comparing him and a girl wasn't good. Next thing he knew he'd be…no. Think happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.

And Ichigo somehow managed to sink into a fitful sleep with Rukia happily wiggling on the bed below.

**Wewt. End of second chappy. I'll try to get to the Aizen stuff next chapter. This chapter was mostly just ichiruki goodness and stuff like that. But at least now you know that the two red-haired people (the person Hitsugaya was asking for and the 'red-haired' person that had run off with Ichigo's ID) are the same people. And the starting character intros and stuff are already taken care of. So the meat stuff will begin next time.**

**Remember: more reviews equal faster updates. It's just like voting. One review makes a hell of a lot of difference. Thanks ahead of time. =D**

**And I apologize for any mistakes that you may have found. Constructive criticism, as stated in the first chapter, is greatly enjoyed. Just random bashing is not. XD**


	3. Aizen Souske

**So…it's been a good while since I last updated. I'll save the excuses. I want to finish this story though, so I'm going to update again. Hopefully my next update will be faster than my last one. XD 'nyways. Enjoy, and forgive any occ-ness from the characters. And forgive any college flaws. I'm still a senior in high school.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, Ichi-ruki would've already happened. O_____O**

**Because it's been such a long time since my last update and I don't know if I still have any readers left, I'll include a summary and recap. **

**Summary: Rukia is assigned to assassinate Aizen for the ruthless murders of his students. But things don't always go according to plan. Not only does she have to deal with horrible surprises (specifically a roommate among other things), she must become...a college guy. AU ichiruki**

**Recap so far: Rukia has transferred into college under the alias Ryoko. After getting lost, she manages to finally find her dorm room. To her dismay she finds that she has a roommate. **

**~__~__~__~__~__~__~__~__~**

Her alarm rang at five. The sharp screech pierced the air and she slapped it off eyes darting upward to see if her roommate had woken up. A snort and mumble alleviated her suspicions. Seems that he could sleep through anything. Turns out so could she, if she could sleep in that binding.

"What I do for the company," she grumbled. Pulling herself out of bed, she winced. The binding was getting incredibly uncomfortable. Damn the company. They told her that she'd have her own room. Now she couldn't even relax.

"Get away from me you creep!"

Rukia jumped and whirled around. Ichigo had a foot in the air and was wearing an irritated expression. But he was still asleep.

"I really need a shower," she groaned.

"Then go take one."

She froze. "What?"

"You heard me," he snorted.

"Why are you awake?" she hissed.

"What, I'm not allowed to get up when I damn please?" She glared at him. "If you must know, my dad wakes me up every morning. Or he does when I'm home. It's a habit for me to get up and deflect his kick."

"He kicks you awake?" Rukia looked shocked.

"He's eccentric."

"So you've been awake since my alarm rang?" Ichigo turned to face the wall.

"I didn't hear an alarm ring…but hell. Your voice is so…"

"…so what?" Ichigo turned to see Rukia glaring at him.

"What the hell are you doing!?" he yelped, crashing into the wall. "You don't invade a guy's personal space when he's sleeping!" Rukia adjusted her seat on his bed.

"You weren't sleeping." She retorted. "You were just about to insult me." Ignoring Ichigo's flabbergasted face she asked, "What do you know about Aizen?"

"Who?" he spluttered. The new guy was seriously catching him off-guard.

"Aizen, Aizen-sensei. Whatever. You know."

_He wanted to talk about class…now?! _

"Why do I have to tell you anything? Can't you just let me sleep!? It's past six and I have class at eight!"

Six. Six in the bloody morning? It was just five a few minutes ago! Rukia nearly fell off. They'd spent an hour arguing…if she didn't go now, the shower room was going to be full of naked guys. Her cover would be blown in an instant because of both her lack and excess of appendages. Under no circumstances was she going to allow her brother to give her a...

She deftly jumped down, rummaging in her belongings for her shampoo, conditioner, and other much needed bathroom products before running out the door.

Ichigo watched her go in bafflement. _Ryoko was certainly a strange guy. _

~__~__~__~__~__~__~

At least she'd found the shower room easily enough. Thankfully guys' hadn't raided it yet. She shouldn't be so surprised though. It wasn't like them to get up early to take a shower. She froze. That last part…she had gotten up early to take a shower. It wouldn't matter if no one had seen her cause she wasn't a guy. But Ichigo had seen her.

She slammed her head against the shower stall. She was seriously going to have to get up quieter. Ichigo, contrary to her initial belief, was a light sleeper. Her behavior must have been unnaturally suspicious. In the midst of her dilemma, her shampoo crashed to the floor successfully breaking her out of her reverie. It instantly reminded of the time she did not have, and she undressed. The bindings were finally off. She allowed herself content sigh before unleashing a torrent of water.

~__~__~__~__~__~__~

Ichigo tossed and turned. He rolled onto his back, he rolled onto his stomach. He counted sheep. He counted backwards. But try as he might, he couldn't go back to sleep.

"Screw it all." He muttered. He knew having a roommate would corrupt his mind. But he never thought that it'd happen so soon. Damn that Kuchiki. Sighing he pushed himself up. Maybe it wasn't a total waste. Now that he was up, he might as well do a bit of research on the person he'd spend the rest of his college life rooming with.

He leapt of the bed, and made for the small suitcase that Ryoko had carried in. Personal items told a lot about people, he told himself. It's important to know I'm not rooming with a psychotic killer. He ignored the nagging voice in the back of his head telling him that he was just being a curious jack-ass.

The suit case was full of clothes. Go figure. Standard, basic name-brand stuff. Any guy with a life would have him. That told him almost nothing, 'cept that the guy had a life. He rummaged around deeper and after a few minutes of fruitless searching, hit a file. A smirk slid across his face: jackpot.

He opened the file.

**CASE 666:** **AISEN SOUSKE**

**Teacher. Teaches Psychology. Has taught for 12 years. Every two years a student goes missing. Six years ago, students started to disappear every year. For the last three years, two have gone missing . And in the last year alone, five students ** **have been kidnapped. No one knows what is happening. The only link between the missing students is Aizen Sosuke's class. We did not even know of this connection until until recently. Someone was wiping the missing students off of his class roster list. And None of the students in his class ever remember having the missing students in their class. This matter is of the utmost urgency. We have reason to believe that foul play is involved. The likelihood that any of the missing kids are still alive is less than one percent. Information on Aizen Sosuke is scarce at best. All that we know is what has been previously mentioned, and that he has no immediate family. **

**URGENCY LEVEL: 1 CLEARANCE LEVEL: EXECUTION. SECURITY LEVEL: RESTRICTED**

Ichigo looked at the file, blinked twice and reread the bolded words. **CLEARANCE LEVEL: EXECUTION. **Hell, he _was _dealing with a psychotic killer. He took a moment to bask in the glory of proving his conscience wrong. And then he froze as a voice pierced the air,

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

~__~__~__~__~__~__~

**Sorry, it's a bit short. D: I'm worried there might be a few inconsistencies with the other chapters because I couldn't properly re-read them before writing this 'cause my internet is d.e.a.d. and utter crap at the moment.**

**Also, there was a bit too much main stream stuff going on, and not enough side-stream. Sorry about that. And I may have gotten Aizen's name wrong. If I did…ignore it. XD He got a name change. ^____^**

**All reviews appreciated and much loved. Give me six new ones and I'll have a new chapter for any of my readers that are left in a week or less. **


	4. Meet the Dean

**I wanted to say a quick thank you to all of my reviewers. You guys are the best. ^___^ I wasn't planning on updating so soon after receiving the six reviews (hell, I wasn't even expecting it), but you guys are just so awesome. Many thanks. :3 **

**P.S. This shows that reviewing DOES help an author (or whatever you call someone who writes on fan fiction ^^" ) write faster. =D**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach I'd make Byakuya try to marry off Rukia and Ichigo save her and marry her instead. Or something. All that boils down to is: I don't own Bleach.**

**A more complete recap then last time****:**

**Rukia was ordered to attend college under the alias Ryoko in order to eliminate Aizen Souske, a prime suspect in the disappearance of numerous students. The only problem was that she would have to go undercover as a guy because, for some reason or another, Aizen's Psychology class only accepts guys. **

**Rukia ends up enrolling and finding her room, only to be greeted by her roommate Ichigo, Kurosaki. The company had promised her a room for herself, and this unexpected surprise sufficiently peeved her. The next morning she leaves early for a shower. Ichigo, because he couldn't sleep after being woken up, digs around and finds a file. Seems that he has discovered what Rukia was doing here. And it seems that someone has discovered him discovering her. What shall happen to him?**

**On the company's side, Renji has been ordered to un-enroll from college. It seems that his presence jeopardizes the mission. Renji, angered, steals Hitsugaya's letter. **

**/End of Long Recap**

**Quick side note for later: Shun-po in this fanfic just means a really fast run that is still possible in the human world. O__O Just only ubber beast people can do it. **

**~__~__~__~__~__~**

Renji looked at the letter in his hand. Seems that Hitsugaya-taichou had been writing something. Pretty important by the way the captain was screaming and running down the hall.

"Renji! Get the hell back here with my letter!" So much for mannerisms.

Renji laughed. The Captain was going through each open door in desperation. It would be a while before he got to the room hiding the vice-captain. He predicted that he had perhaps a good five to ten minutes before he was caught. Gave him time to read the letter and than man his great escape.

Sadly, he didn't predict that the Captain would use shun-po.

"Found you!" Hitsugaya yelled triumphantly. He was standing in the doorway, light sweat on his brow. It was probably more from worry than exhaustion, even if he had gone through virtually a hundred doors to get here. But Renji couldn't comprehend all of that at the moment. He was in shock. Hitsugaya could have dropped him out the window. He'd fall for six stories.

Hitsugaya breathed in and out a couple of times. Regaining his composure, he snatched the letter from the hands of one stupefied vice-captain.

"You...how…" the words fell out of the vice-captains mouth incoherently. _How in the world had he gotten here so fast?!_

"My skills may not be comparable to some other captains, but I'm not so far behind that I can not do a simple shun-po."

Needless to say, by the end of that small spiel Renji's face was stained red.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"Hey, Orihime," called Tatsuki. She walked over to where her friend was sitting. The auditorium was huge, but it wasn't like she hadn't seen it before. She had been here two years, after all. "Have you seen Ichigo? He's going to be late for the initiation ceremony."

"Eh? What initiation ceremony?"

Tatsuki groaned, "I swear, you two are sometimes so alike." Orihime looked at her, puzzled. Tatsuki gave in. "The ceremony we're waiting for right now."

Somewhere, a light bulb sparked. "Oh! Why didn't you say so?" Tatsuki laughed weakly.

"It slipped my mind." Orihime patted her on the back.

"It's ok. No one's perfect." Orihime smiled. "Wonder where Ichigo is though."

Tatsuki decided to play dumb. "Now that you mention it," as if she hadn't earlier. "…he's not here."

"Like usual." Orihime sighed.

_Usual?_ Then she remembered. "He's late every year for this thing because he thinks he has class, isn't he?" Tatsuki sighed. "He's probably in his old English class right now, wondering where everyone has gone."

Orihime shook her head. "And you say we're alike. You see, Ichigo is way funnier than I am!"

"He's funny?" Tatsuki questioned, sweatdropping.

"Yeah his expression is so…" Tatsuki sighed again. This was going to be a long ceremony.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Rukia hissed. She had just come back from a well-deserverd shower, and this is what she finds. A guy holding her mission in his hand. Open no less! Nii-sama was going to be _furious._

Sensing his impending doom, Ichigo tried to hide beneath the file. He knew it wasn't working. But it wasn't stopping him from trying. If it had been in any other situation, Rukia would have found this highly amusing. But this wasn't any other situation.

"Nothing." he tried to pull off the word nonchalantly. It failed. Miserably. He looked totally guilty. Despite Ryoko's lack of height, Ichigo thought he looked highly vicious towering over his own cowering form.

"How much did you read?" she muttered, kicking his head.

"Just the part where you were supposed to kill my Psychology teacher." Rukia twitched. Just?_ Just!?_

"I didn't get any farther." He made a point of carefully putting it back in her suitcase.

Rukia thought this might go rather well. After all, if he had read any further he would have found out she was a girl. Not a guy. But a girl pretending to be a guy. Gods this was confusing.

"You tell any one about this, and I'll behead you." she threatened. He had no way of knowing that was an empty threat. If she killed him, nii-sama would kill her. Literally would be better than any sort of figurative death he might create. Like the disappearance of her friends. Or all her worldly possessions. She suppressed a shudder.

Ichigo laughed. Rukia froze. He knew it was an empty threat? Impossible. But if so…she was so dead.

"This whole thing is ridiculous."

Rukia stared at him.

"Listen here," Ichigo said confidence starting to return, albeit slowly, but return none-the-less. "If you can prove to me that Aizen's actually behind all of these things your file says he is, I'll help you." He waited to see how Ryoko would react to this ultimatum.

Rukia chuckled. "And how could you help me?"

Ichigo fought down the urge to chuck his roommate across the room. He didn't want to be beheaded, but hell, his roommate sure was a tad condescending. And a kohei no less! "Well, _Ryoko_, this is your first year here, is it not? I'm betting you don't know your way around the school."

"Of course I-" Rukia stopped. She thought about the map incident. And the kitchen incident.

Ichigo grinned. He had caught him. But with the look that Ryoko was giving him, he wiped the grin off his face. He was walking on glass here. One false move and he wouldn't put it past the little devil to actually behead him.

He stood up and extended a hand. "Deal?"

Rukia eyed the hand distastefully. She was saved by a chance glance at the clock.

"You said you had class at eight, right?"

Ichigo stared at her for a second.

"What?"

"How can you have class when college is just starting? I may be new here, but shouldn't there be some sort of-" She stopped short when Ichigo's eyes widened in horror.

"What time is it now?"

"7:50"

"Shit." Ichigo dashed around the room, pulling on his uniform. "I can't believe you took over an hour in the shower. It threw me off!"

"What the hell are you talking about. How does MY shower time throw YOU off?!"

"What kind of guy showers for that long!?"

_Crap._ "What does it matter if I like to be clean?" Damn. That sounded lame even to her.

"Screw it all, I don't have time for this." he muttered. Grabbing his stuff he made for the door in record time. "If you don't hurry Kuchiki, you're going to be _late_ to the ceremony."

"W-what!?" she spluttered. "You didn't mention a ceremony before. You said class!"

"And you reminded me that we had a ceremony. So get your ass out that door before both our butts get kicked."

Rukia fumed for a second in indignation. How dare he talk to her like that? If this was the company…thinking about it for a moment, she reluctantly let it go. Passing Ichigo in the doorway she muttered, "When we get back you are so dead."

Ichigo shivered. For some reason, he didn't put it passed him. After all, this Ryoko person sure did fit the bill for a psychotic murderer.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"As your Dean, I have the most esteemed delight in welcoming you to this college. Some of you are returning students. And others…"

For some reason, Rukia thought he took a moment to look at her. He couldn't know that she hadn't been here for the bows and such. She thought that she and that Kurosaki kid had made a very inconspicuous entrance.

"…are new here. I think that you will all make sure that they are…properly welcomed. For those of you that may not know me," at this point, the Dean took off his striped cap and made a flashy bow. "My name is Urahara, Kisuke. You can call me Urahara-taichou if you please." he grinned. "After all, if this was a ship, I'd be its Captain. Now chop-chop! Get to your classes. Teachers can introduce themselves there. This is your Captain signing off." He made one more flashy bow before departing off the stage.

"Is that really the Dean?" Rukia muttered to no one in particular.

"Yeah," an unfamiliar voice replied. Rukia turned to find the owner of said voice. "The name's Ishida by the way. Ishida, Uryu." he extended a hand.

"Kuchiki, Ruk-" she stopped, horrified at her near mistake. "Ryoko. Kuchiki, Ryoko."

Ishida looked at her curiously. "If you say so." Rukia made a point to fervently nod. Though that may have undermined her purpose of convincing him. "The Dean noticed you come in. Though you must have known that."

"What?" Rukia looked at him, shocked. "He couldn't have seen us come in." Ishida pushed his glasses further up his nose, amused.

"Yeah, you and the Kurosaki kid's entrance was really inconspicuous." Rukia smiled. So she wasn't the only person who thought so.

In reply to her smile though, he retorted, "I was being sarcastic." Rukia's smile fell. "With all the crashing and pushing and yelling and swearing, how could he _not _have seen you?" In lieu of Rukia's shocked faced he felt a little pity. "You couldn't have actually thought you were quiet?"

Rukia was sufficiently silent.

Ishida chuckled. "You're pretty interesting, Kuchiki. Join the sewing club." He patted her shoulder and walked off. _The sewing club?_ Perhaps she wasn't the only unmanly guy around.

She sighed, pushing her hair back. Well no matter, she thought. She had fish to fry. Namely the orange pufferfish who had totally invaded her privacy.

But first class. She pulled out her list. She hoped it was something she could vent in.

**Aizen Sosuke. Psychology**.

She grinned, maybe this day wasn't so bad after all.

~__~__~__~__~__~

**So that was definitely longer, though not by much. I apologize for the lack of a proper cliffhanger. I couldn't think of one that'd do. Forgive me for any typos/grammar mistakes. I do read over it a couple of times. But I never seem to catch all of my mistakes. ;-;**

**But next time will be Aizen's class. So Aizen will be properly introduced. Some other characters to look forward to: Ichimaru, Gin…Hinamori…and a couple more that I'll leave as surprises. I'm also planning (a small spoiler for more to come) on including a pageant…I didn't want to mention anything so soon, but the idea will be mentioned in the story next time. Look forward to that, if it's not totally lame. **

**Anyways.**

**Reviews are much loved! Seriously. 3 Look how fast I update with reviews. XD The other time I took almost a year to update. O__O" I seriously apologize about that. I won't put a goal on reviews this time. But don't review because I don't. D:**

**Until next time. ^_____^**


	5. The Psychology Class Mishap

**Have you ever blurted out something, then wanted to put your foot in your mouth? I did that…four times in Drivers Ed. Totally awesome. (Yes, I'm a loser who is still trying to learn how to drive because my parents thought that the whole "Drivers Ed Class" was trying to rip you off. Now they found out that it's REQUIRED. So…I'm taking the damn class two years late.) Anywho. **

**THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! You'll never know how much of a warm fuzzy feeling I get every time I read one. ^____^ The reviews are lovely. They make me feel wonderful even on a lousy day (like this one). As a reward for the brilliant reviewers comes another fast update. (Well, fast for me anyways.)**

**As a side note, just something I wanted to clear up. I totally didn't mean to make the 'Ichigo is like Inoue' thing Ichihime-ish. I was intending the opposite. Initially I was following the quote - "Opposites attract"- trying but failing to indirectly hint that Ichigo is not interested in Inoue in the least. So I apologize for any confusion. :3**

**Once again, I apologize for any typos/grammar mistakes you may find. And…**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach. O__O I ran out of 'fake' witty sayings, so I'm just gonna go for the simplified version. **

**I'm starting to like the recap thing, so I'm going to include one from now. **

**A ****recap**** for old readers (I find these helpful when I'm reading something I started a long time ago and can't remember what it was about): **

**Rukia enrolled in college under orders from Byakuya. She has gone undercover as a guy under the alias Ryoko in order to attend Aizen Sosuke's Psychology class. Anyways, some events occur and Rukia ends up meeting Ichigo - her roommate. After Rukia leaves for a shower, Ichigo finds Rukia's file. Rukia finds him finding her file and basically threatens to kill him. She was interrupted from carrying out this threat by the revelation that the two of them were late for the initiation ceremony. **

**During the initiation ceremony, the Dean introduces himself and Rukia meats Ishida, Uryu. Following the ceremony, she makes for her first class of the day. Psychology with none other than Aizen Sosuke. **

**Back with the Company: After stealing Hitsugaya's letter, Renji is, unfortunately, caught. /end**

**Last side note: I have no idea what Aizen actually calls Hinamori in the anime/manga. So I apologize for the discrepancy. **

**~__~__~__~__~__~**

"Hinamori-chan, if you don't keep up you're going to get lost." Hinamori was balancing a pile of books and falling farther and farther behind Aizen. The bell rang. "My students are going to be wondering where I am," he murmured.

"I know…Aizen-sensei but there are so many kids…" She twirled to dodge a couple of students running for class. Aizen paused and put a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

"I don't understand why you won't let me carry some of those books." Hinamori looked appalled.

"I-It's my duty Aizen-sensei! That's what a teachers aid is for."

Aizen looked at her for a second before smiling. "Then make sure to keep up, can't have my precious aid getting lost." Hinamori beamed.

"Right away sir!"

~__~__~__~__~__~

Rukia walked into class. Early in fact. Now she wouldn't have to make any…failed…inconspicuous entrances. She looked around the room. "So this is what they call a lecture room," she mused.

The room was rather large. At the front rested a small desk. Behind it lay a chalkboard taking up the length of the room. Facing the chalkboard were rows upon rows of elongated tables and swivel chairs, each

table on a higher platform than the next.

As she looked around, Rukia had to admit that college was fairly more impressive than high school. Not only were the rooms bigger, but they had swivel chairs! The bell interrupted her thoughts before she could admire the room any further and Ichigo rushed in. "Ryoko if you don't move your ass, Aizen's going to count you late."

"Wh-" Rukia looked at him in shock. "Late?" Regaining her senses she boomed, "You insolent fool! I was here well before the bell rang!"

"Were you now?" Rukia froze. That wasn't Ichigo. Ichigo, sadly along with his _voice_, was now situated in a swivel chair, smirking. _Damn._ She turned around to see a young teacher with brown hair and glasses smiling at her.

"Ano…" For the life of her, Rukia couldn't figure out a thing to say.

Still smiling pleasantly, the teacher commented, "Why don't you go take a seat next to…" The teacher turned around, apparently looking for something. "Hinamori-chan, where did you go?" A muffled sound was heard from behind the door.

"I'm so sorry," the teacher commented before opening the door to reveal a young girl carrying a mountain of books.

"Don't worry about it sensei." The girl replied. "You were looking for this?" The girl extended a hand carrying a file while precariously balancing the books with one hand.

"Ahhh, yes. Thank you Hinamori-chan." He paused to look at the file. "As I was saying before, why don't you…" He paused for a moment looking at Rukia expectantly. Rukia in turn looked at him in confusion before a voice behind her hissed…_name. Give him your name._

"Kuchiki…ano…Aizen-sensei? Kuchiki, Ryoko." Aizen smiled kindly.

"Yes, I suppose I am Aizen-sensei. Anyways, as I was saying, why don't you take a seat next to…Arisawa, Tatsuki." He looked around. "Tatsuki please raise your hand so Kuchiki can find a seat."

Rukia turned to look for said hand. When she found it she gasped. "Girls are allowed in this class?"

Aizen looked at her in amusement. "Well…I suppose it is un-orthodox for a girl to take this class, but yes. It's not like I can ban them, though the last time a girl attended this class…" he paused, finger on chin contemplating. "…was at least a couple of years ago. Nice girl. Well, get to it," he stated, pushing Rukia's rigid body in the direction of her seat. "Class must start. And we really are far behind."

"Hai, sensei," came the weak reply as she took her seat.

Rukia was in a state of shock. _Girls._ The same thoughts kept running through her head as she took her seat. _They allow girls. _Rukia inaudibly groaned. _They had cut her hair for no reason._

~__~__~__~__~__~

"You're Kuchiki, Ryoko, right?" It was now thirty minutes into the lesson. Aizen had gone into the basics of Psychology and Rukia had very nearly dozed off. Now Rukia lifted her head off the desk to reply.

"Yeah." The girl next to her stuck out her hand.

"Arisawa, Tatsuki." Rukia smiled slightly and shook it. It was nice to see some people were still normal…considering the only other people she knew were a guy who sews and the bleached creep rooming with her.

"You always seem to make an entrance, don't you?" Rukia looked at her for a second before Tatsuki elaborated. "First the ceremony and now this? You're brilliant!" Tatsuki slapped her on the back. "Not to mention you talk back to Ichigo. Hardly anyone around here that does…but then again, he doesn't treat everyone the way he treats you." Now Rukia was awake.

"Meaning…?" Tatsuki sighed.

"There's only a handful of people, me being the only girl, that he verbally fights with. Considering your entrance and response to his jibe," gesturing to the scene that the class had just witnessed. "I'd say you were one of them."

Rukia contemplated this new piece of information. _So he wasn't a jerk to everyone? _

"So he's not a jerk to everyone?" Tatsuki laughed.

"Nah. Just his friends." Well, that made things a lot better. Now she was _friends _with the strawberry. What next? Golf buddies?

"Huh," Rukia muttered. "How do I un-friend him?"

Tatsuki chuckled, "I like your sense of humor." That one line that made Rukia realize that she was actually being sarcastic. It wasn't just Tatsuki's imagination. _She didn't want to un-friend him. Gods, was un-friend even a word? What was she, two? But damn, if this kept going on, she might actually fall for him. Then he'd REALLY think she was gay. Or a fag. She didn't know what was worse. _

Rukia slammed her head on the table. The class turned to look at her in slight-concern, the only exception being Ichigo who was staring at her as if she were slightly mad.

"Everything all right there, Kuchiki?" Aizen called.

A timely crash prevented Rukia from having to come up with an answer.

"Hinamori-chan?" Aizen looked at her flabbergasted. "I thought it was a given that you could set those books down. Don't tell me you were holding them all of this time?"

"Ano…ano…" Hinamori blushed. "Sorry Aizen-sensei. If I was a better teachers aid I could have held them for longer."

Aizen laughed. "Don't worry about it…try to hold it longer next time." Then he continued ominously, "…if there is a next time, right Hinamori-chan?" He chuckled.

"Definitely, Aizen-sensei." Hinamori laughed, cheeks still tinged red.

There was a drop in temperature as the whole room seemed to go still.

Aizen looked at the class in mild shock. "What…I was only kidding? Professors can do that…right?"

Silence greeted him.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"Hey, Kuchiki!" The bell had dismissed her from class and saved Rukia from further embarrassment with Aizen. Not that it mattered. But still. Now she turned to see Tatsuki running towards her.

"I haven't seen you around here before, so I'm guessing you're new, right?"

Rukia laughed lightly. "Yeah. Am I that obvious?" _Is everyone here that perspective?_

"A bit." Tatsuki slowed to a walk as she caught up. "But anyways. Do you have any plans for lunch?"

Rukia looked at her curiously for a second. "Not really. I was hoping on buying something…"

"Really?"

"Yeah," Rukia laughed. "I have a part-time job. It takes up most of my free time so even though I know how to cook, I never have time for it."

"Huh," Tatsuki commented. "You have a girly side, don't you?"

Rukia froze. If her cover was blown now, she'd have a tough time explaining why she was a guy. And why that wasn't creepy. So now, instead of her life being at stake, it was her morals. A hell of a lot better. Not.

She decided to try to laugh it off. "Not really."

Tatsuki punched her shoulder. "No need to be shy about it," but sensing the awkwardness of the subject, she changed topics. "Anyways. Me, Orihime, Ichigo and Ishida eat at the college. Interested in joining us?"

Tatsuki offered her a thumbs up.

"Os!" Rukia replied relaying the thumbs up, hoping to boost her masculine image. She imagined it failed because Tatsuki looked like she was going to keel over, laughing.

"I'll see you later then," Tatsuki chuckled. "I've got some things to take care of at the library. Meet me in the commons in an hour. I'll introduce you to Ishida and Orihime then."

Rukia waved. She didn't mention that she had already met Ishida. At least she would be introduced to this Orihime person.

"Yeah, I'll be there."

After she was gone, Rukia resisted the urge to slam herself against the wall. _That could not have gone worse. _

Well, never mind, she thought, perking up. She had plenty to do in that one hour. Namely dig up dirt on one, Aizen Sosuke.

But first. She also had to go ask nii-sama what idiotic subordinate had told him that Aizen's Psychology class was _only for guys_. She laughed evilly to herself when she felt her conscience twinge guiltily.

Damn, even she felt sorry for him. But the feeling evaporated as she felt her hair.

The poor bastard had no idea what he had done.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"Tatsuki!" Orihime waved her over to the table she was sitting at, oblivious to the loud murmurs complaining about the noise.

Tatsuki raised her hand in greeting and sat down. She was humming under her breathe and seemed slightly disoriented so it was no wonder that Orihime picked up that something was amiss.

"Did something happen?" Orihime looked at Tatsuki.

"No, why?"

"You just look happy," Orihime commented.

Tatsuki shifted around uncomfortably for a second. "Psychology was fun, I guess. Aizen-sensei was pretty cool. Though definitely creepy."

"So that's it!" Orihime gasped. Loud murmurs picked up again, but she continued nonetheless. "You have fallen for Aiz-mmph." She was stopped by her friends hand on her mouth.

"No. That's not it at all!" Tatsuki sweatdropped. Sometimes Orihime could really be off.

"But that's the look you have on your face!" _Wait, what?_

"I placed 2nd in the martial arts championship in Japan. Don't you think I know better than to let my emotions show on my face?!"

Orihime shook her head. "Silly. Don't you know martial arts and love have nothing to do with each other!" While Tatsuki was trying to formulate a response to this, Orihime gasped again.

"I know! You should totally take sensei to the dance!"

"You can't take a teacher to the dance," Tatsuki retorted. "That's just creepy!"

Orihime looked thoughtful for a second. "But you just said he was creepy, didn't you? Besides, it's a girl ask guy dance, so there's no harm in you asking him!"

Tatsuki weakly chuckled. "That's besides the poin…" She was interrupted as the librarian came up to them.

The librarian himself was young. His white hair fell neatly across his face and he would have been quite handsome if not for the narrow eyes and smile giving him a snake-like appearance.

"You know I can't have you talking in the library. You're distracting precious students from studying."

Despite the foreboding aura, Tatsuki thanked the heavens for the interruption.

"We'll be on our way then. Sorry for the commotion, Ichimaru-san." Tatsuki stood up, dragging Orihime with her. "We have lunch to go to anyways."

"Take care then." Gin smiled.

Tatsuki didn't know exactly why, but the librarian always freaked her out. _Always._

~__~__~__~__~__~

'**k, so lots of things happening here. One, yes I thought it'd be interesting to see what Rukia would do if Tatsuki fell for Ryoko. Two, that is not for the life of this story actually going to be carried out. It will fail, Rukia's identity will be exposed, and Ichiruki will happen. Not necessarily in that order. -evil grin- But anyways. If that creeps you out, tell me. If it doesn't, tell me. If you think it'll be funny, tell me. O__O" Cause I'm not sure if I should follow through with it or not. Just making her so OC is creeping me out so…anyways. **

**I also have to clear one thing up: by pageant, I meant dance. For the life of me, I have no idea how I mixed those two up last chapter. That's what I get for skipping ahead.**

**I hafta apologize for the slightly OC antics of Aizen and way OC antics of Tatsuki.**

**I also apologize for any inconsistencies and typo/grammar mistakes. I do try to check for these, but I don't catch them all. Ever.**

**And finally, I ask for reviews. Love it, hate it, trash it and re-write it, I need to know so that I can improve. 3 You're reviews are much loved and fuel the fire (if you can call it that) for my writing so don't forget to review. Thanks to my reviewers I've been updating every two days for the past two chapters.**

**I wonder if you can make me go faster. XD At least the update this time was fairly lengthy. **

**Well, 'till next time. (I think I'm going to make this my slogan).**

**^____^**


	6. Ms 'Mr Popular'

**I'm sorry for the delayed release. I was working on this yesterday but ran out of time to write. My mom feels it's her job to make sure I don't have time for a job, so she packs my week full of crap. DX**

**Anywho.**

**Thank you to my reviewers! The reviews were much loved. 3 They make everything happy. ^__^**

**Btw, whenever you see a 3, like in authors notes, it's supposed to be a heart (3) but for some reason fan fiction doesn't like the bracket part of it unless I add it in an already uploaded document, so…D: That's what that's supposed to be.**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own Bleach. O__O**

**As a side note, I have discovered that most of my favorite pairings will never happen (i.e. ConanXAi). Ichiruki is probably the only one that will. **

**That's so sad. ;-;**

**Recap: (I'm just gonna recap what happened last chapter.)**

**Rukia discovers that Aizen's class is NOT limited to the male race. The probable reason for the mistake is attributed to the fact that there aren't many females that take the class. So now, properly enraged, Rukia visits her brother to find out why she is, quite frankly, a guy…**

**~__~__~__~__~__~**

"The company is late," Rukia grumbled. She was standing outside the school's gates, waiting for the Lincoln that was supposed to arrive. The wind was strong, and for once she was grateful she wasn't wearing a skirt. The slacks let her worry about more important things, namely her hair and the time. Speaking of time, it wasn't like she had all the time in the world. She had promised to meet Tatsuki and the others for lunch in less than an hour. She checked her watch in frustration before an all too familiar voice broke her thoughts.

"Midget, get out of the bloody way!" Rukia twitched. That better not be directed at her. When nothing followed, she decided to ignore it. She regretted that decision when a bike rammed into her sending her flying into the gate.

"What the hell…" she groaned, rubbing her head. She was sprawled across the grass, Ichigo on top of her. Opening her eyes, she freaked. He had discovered her objective, but he sure as hell wasn't finding out her gender.

"Get off me, hentai!" She put her foot to his head, pushing then kicking him off. Ichigo performed a single graceful flip before landing with a heavy _thud_.

"You stupid midget, I TOLD you to move! And, what the hell, hentai?!" Rukia's face flushed.

"Normal people respond to names! I'VE TOLD YOU THAT BEFORE!" She roared, decidedly ignoring the pervert comment. "This is the second time you've crashed into me! Are you purposely trying to kill me!?" She stood up in righteous indignation, looking down with ill-concealed contempt at the orange mess on the floor.

"But why the hell'd you kick me?" Ichigo muttered, trying but failing to stand. "I freakin' flew through the air because you wouldn't move and landed on some sort of hard rock," he rubbed his back as if trying to prove his point. "Then you have enough nerve to kick me! You'd think you'd at least apologize."

Rukia's face flushed a deeper shade of red. _Her chest was not a rock._

"Shut up!" She kicked him into the gate.

"Freakin' hell! My back!" Rukia stuck her tongue out at him.

"Next time don't crash into me!" Ichigo groaned. He was saved from further torture when a black car pulled up. The driver's window rolled down and a head popped out.

"Kuchiki-dono, please get inside quickly." Rukia sighed in relief.

"Hanataro you're late. And how many times must I say it," she replied, glaring. "It's Rukia." Their conversation was interrupted by the forgotten roommate.

"Who the bloody hell is Rukia?" Ichigo mumbled, finally pulling himself up. Rukia's head whipped around.

"None of your concern," she snapped before rushing into the car. "Drive Hanataro!"

"What the bloody hell…" Ichigo grumbled watching the hastily retreating car.

Meanwhile, Hanataro turned a corner. "We'll be there soon, Kuchiki-dono." When he didn't hear a response, he glanced into the rearview mirror.

His charge was gazing out the window biting her bottom lip, face flushed bright red.

Hanataro smiled.

~__~__~__~__~__~

Renji skulked around the school building. He had just un-enrolled or more specifically, transferred, to another college in another district. The task itself was like wrenching his teeth out. With pliers. He'd spent two years at this school. He had made friends. Hell, he'd even made enemies. He kicked the concrete, trying to vent some pent up frustration.

Not wanting to return to the company just yet, he started walking towards the school gate. He wanted to see the school one more time before he had to leave it. But as he rounded the corner, all he saw was his best friend crash into his childhood friend. As Rukia slammed into the gate, Renji resisted the urge to take Ichigo's head and bash it into the ground.

_Rukia. That bastard had hurt Rukia._

"Damnit, Ichigo…" he gritted his teeth. Maybe this is what Hitsugaya-taichou meant by him being a danger to the mission. If something happened to Rukia, he'd definitely get involved. This could possibly jeopardize everything the company had worked for, so despite the urge to go and save her from the orange ball of terror, he curled his hands into tight fists and hankered down.

His resolve nearly broke when he saw Ichigo land on Rukia's chest and let out a silent scream of anguish. Just as Renji's resolve was bordering on non-existent, Rukia violently kicked him off her. Renji's anger died down, at least momentarily, as he watched the scene that unfolded curiously.

Seems that the two of them were having an argument…as the argument continued though, he realized that it was merely banter. It had no bite. It looked like more of a freakin' lovers quarrel. Between supposed guys. The hell. He was about to run down there and break it up when Hanataro appeared.

Renji sighed, silently thanking the heavens. Ichigo and Rukia were firmly separated and he hadn't jeopardized the objective at all. And now that Rukia was gone…Renji made his way to Ichigo, whistling under his breath. _His best friend had a lot to answer for._

~__~__~__~__~__~

"Kuchiki-san," Rukia looked up to see Tatsuki waving at her. She was sitting with Ichigo, whose expression was a mix between horror and intrigue, Ishida, who looked mildly interested, and a couple others that she hadn't met.

Rukia waved a hand in greeting. "Sorry I'm late. I had something to take care of."

Tatsuki laughed. "I figured as much when I didn't see you at the pillar. But you're pretty good, being able to find the table without any help."

Rukia smiled. _Well I am an assassin. _"It's an innate talent," she replied, frowning when Ichigo made a disgruntled sound. "That not sit with you, _Ichigo_," she hissed, glaring at him.

"Pfft. I didn't know you had any innate talents," he chuckled. Rukia fumed.

"For your information, I am highly skilled with the katana as well." Ichigo raised an eyebrow.

"How about you join the kendo club and prove it," he asked her, tauntingly.

"Don't listen to him, Kuchiki-san," Tatsuki interrupted, glaring at Ichigo. "This fool is captain of the club, and he's always looking for more members." She rolled her eyes. "Goodness knows the club needs it."

"Che, what was that, Tatsuki? Aren't you the captain of the martial-arts club? And aren't you _also_ looking for new members?" Tatsuki reddened.

"I-I didn't ask him."

"Yet." Ichigo added, ignoring Tatsuki's furious glare. But he soon decided to let it drop and gave Tatsuki a reprieve. "So what brings you to our table, Ryoko?"

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Arisawa…"

"Tatsuki," Tatsuki interrupted.

Rukia stared at her. "Hah?""No one calls me Arisawa except the teachers, people I don't know, Ishida, and creepy people," she continued, jerking her thumb towards a guy who was, quite frankly, chasing skirts. "Since I know you, you're not creepy, you're not a teacher and you're definitely not Ishida, it's Tatsuki."

Rukia looked at her a second before smiling. "Ryoko."

Tatsuki looked at her, confused. "What?"

"Not Kuchiki-san, Ryoko."

Ichigo, meanwhile, was watching this scene unfurl with a disgruntled expression. The scene looked remarkably like one that unfolded in their dorm just hours earlier. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't like it.

"Oi! Don't you think you guys are being too chummy for just having met," he grumbled. Rukia turned to him and smirked.

"Don't tell me you're jealous, Ichigo."

"W-what," he spluttered. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm trying to eat and the obvious flirting is making me nauseous." Before Rukia could state that this 'flirting' had never been covered in the company and politely inquire to what this deed actually was, Tatsuki had Ichigo in a head-lock.

"This is called being friendly, right Ryoko-kun?" Rukia beamed.

"Right, Tatsuki-chan." Pretty soon, Ichigo's face started to turn blue.

"Uncle," he cried. "I give."

"Pretty weak for a boy Ichigo," Rukia commented dryly. "You'd think you wouldn't lose to a girl."

"She's no girl," he gasped clutching his throat. "She's a bloody monster." Tatsuki threw an empty juice box at his head.

The fight was interrupted by a meek voice.

"Ano…" The trio turned to look at an orange-haired girl looking extremely lost. "This is…?"

"Ah!" Tatsuki jumped up. "Kuchiki, Ryoko this is Inoue, Orihime," Orihime smiled brightly, happy to finally be introduced. "Sado 'Chad' Yasutora," Chad gave a slight nod in greeting. "and Ishida, Uryu," she finished, pointing to a young man with glasses.

"I believe we've already met Kuchiki."

"Ah," Rukia smiled. "Yeah. Ishida was it?" He tilted his head once in reply.

"Why don't you sit, Ryoko-kun? There's plenty of place."

"Sorry for the trouble," Rukia said, grabbing a seat between Tatsuki and Ichigo.

"So about the Kendo-club," Ichigo interrupted. "Definitely a no? I mean, you probably would say no right? After all, Aizen-sensei is leading the class…" he said the latter more for himself than for Rukia.

"I'm in." She said this so fast that the entire table looked at her in shock.

"I thought you hated Aizen-sensei." Ichigo looked flabbergasted.

"How'd you get that idea," Rukia asked, eyes throwing-daggers. He was not going to mention the file. _He was not going to mention the file._

"Ah…er…gut feeling?" Ichigo laughed to himself. "But at least you're not joining the martial-arts club."

Tatsuki kicked him. "I didn't ask him to join in the first place. If I had," she crossed her arms. "He would have definitely joined mine instead of yours. His slight physique is perfect for the arts."

She did have a point. Rukia was incredibly gifted at martial arts as well…but these people didn't need to know everything about her.

"If Aizen wasn't heading Kendo, I definitely would have taken the arts Ichigo," Rukia quipped. Orihime, finally facing a topic she knew fairly well, decided to put in her two cents despite it likely being completely off the mark.

"Tatsuki's taking Aizen-sensei to the dance." Silence was imminent. Tatsuki looked like she was stuck between screaming bloody murder or fainting in dead shock. After all, both had its appeals.

In the midst of her dilemma, Ichigo turned to his childhood friend seriously. "Tatsuki, you know it's impossible to go to the dance wi-" He was cut off as Tatsuki's shoe hit him in the face, not only succeeding in silencing him but catapulting him backwards as well.

"She's got it wrong. I have no intention of asking him to the dance," she yelped. Rukia watched the scene in bafflement.

"What dance?" Once again, the table fell into shock. Ichigo was the first to recover.

"Every year, to start of the year or something, the college holds a dance. This year," he said, gesturing around. "is girls-ask-guys."

"Well that's unorthodox," she commented.

Ichigo nodded. "They're getting these crazy ideas from American schools. I mean seriously. Who ever thought of having a girl-ask-guy dance? It's bloody insane!"

"Now, now, Kurosaki," Ishida said. "You probably don't want to be condemning the female race with Arisawa here. She might just decide to flip you."

"Oi, don't give her any ideas. I've been flipped enough today," he muttered, throwing a glare at Rukia.

The not-so-subtle accusation in Ichigo's last comment was sufficient enough reason to torture Ichigo. But she, sadly, couldn't do so with so many witnesses. "For your information, I was not talking about the girls-ask-guys-whatever," Rukia fumed.

Ichigo was staggered. "Then what's so unorthodox about a dance?!" Rukia looked at him with pity.

"Are you seriously asking that," she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, I'm seriously asking!" By now the entire table was curious, even Chad who hadn't spoken two words.

"Why, that a school would have a dance in the first place," she raised her arms for more of an impact.

Ichigo's jaw dropped. "That's it?" Rukia glowered at him.

"What, is it actually common?" Ichigo thought he had but shake some sense into his roommate before he ended up locked in some locker.

"Well…yeah! What were you, home schooled?" Rukia flushed. Tatsuki quickly changed the subject.

"So have any of you guys actually been asked yet? Namely you, Ichigo?" Ichigo scowled.

"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't. What's it to you?" Tatsuki burst out laughing.

"You haven't have you? And you were trying to act so hot just a minute ago." Ichigo's scowl deepened. He was saved from further torture by Orihime.

"He has." Tatsuki stopped laughing instantly. Ishida noticeably stiffened.

"What do you mean," Ishida asked suspiciously.

"I…um…asked him." Orihime blushed. For some reason, Rukia was absolutely furious.

"Well, what'd you say, Ichigo," she asked harshly. Ichigo had decided to stare at the grass and not say anything. With good reason. Both Ishida and Tatsuki looked ready to kill him…not to mention Ryoko was looking highly dangerous as well.

"He said that someone had already asked him already…" Orihime replied weakly. Rukia was now having to restrain herself from ogling at Ichigo. _He was actually popular?!_

"So who's the girl, Ichigo?" Ishida was now leaning back on his chair, looking much more lively. Even Tatsuki was relieved that her best friend was not dating the hot head. He might break her heart.

"Just some girl…" he muttered. "What about you guys," he asked, changing the subject. "Ishida, have you been asked yet?"

Ishida didn't like this change of tactic, but as the rest of the table was now staring at him he decided to answer. "No. Though I suppose you already knew that, didn't you, Kurosaki?"

"I thought Nemu asked you."

"Ah. She did," Ishida looked mildly surprised.

Ichigo wanted to strangle him. "That isn't the type of thing you forget, baka!" Tatsuki quickly interrupted before the fight could progress.

"What about you, Ryoko-kun?" The table grew quiet. Rukia was now in a predicament. She could not go to a dance, her gender would most undoubtedly be exposed.

"I'm not going…" Tatsuki looked shocked.

"Why not?"

Ichigo laughed. "Isn't it obvious? He hasn't been asked yet! Hell, he didn't even know there was a dance."

Rukia glared at him. "That doesn't mean anything."

"So why don't you go and prove it?"

Rukia needed an excuse. She could _not_ go. She decided to stick with something close to the truth.

"I can't dance."

"Then we'll teach you," Ichigo said, gesturing to his group of friends. "We're pretty good, even four-eyes over there." Ishida glared.

Rukia's jaw dropped_. Ok, bad idea._

"I don't really like dances…"

"Oi, now you're just making up excuses." Now Rukia was desperate. Sweat started to form on her forehead.

"Your right. But no one's going to ask me anyways, so why bother? I mean, it's not like I'm popular…" She stopped short when she saw both Orihime's and Tatsuki's jaws drop.

"What," she demanded. "Do I have something on my face?" She started furiously rubbing her cheek.

Tatsuki hurriedly stopped her. "No…it's just that…"

"…you can't seriously think you're not popular," Orihime finished.

Rukia was now sweating profusely. This was totally nii-sama's fault.

"_Nii-sama! What's the meaning of this?" Rukia crashed into her brothers room. A secretary appeared just moments after her, looking short of breath. _

_The room, on the other hand, was not out of breath but rather luxurious. Two large bookcases encased the room, and in the middle sat Byakuya, in front of which sat a large maple desk. Byakuya sat on the leather chair behind it. The window behind him, at this time, encompassed the sun so perfectly that Byakuya himself had a god-like appearance._

_But back to the scene._

"_She…just…" she said between gasps of breath. "…ran…in here. Nothing…I could do…to stop her." The secretary looked on verge of collapse._

"_What is it, Rukia," he asked coldly without looking up. Rukia froze. She had forgotten who she was dealing with._

"_Er…well, Aizen's class allows girls." She looked at her brother expectantly. _

"_I know." Rukia looked at him in shock. _

"_What?!" Byakuya put down the book he was reading and took off his glasses. _

"_I said, I know." Rukia was petrified._

"_But you said that girls weren't allowed. You even cut my hair."_

_Byakuya looked a tad remorseful, though she might have been imagining it. "That was… regretful." _

_When Rukia said nothing, he sighed. "I just…"_

_Rukia looked at him anxiously. Byakuya swiveled away from her and faced out the window using the sun's glare to hide the red tint on his face._

"_You just…" Rukia probed._

"_Have you seen the hoodlums that go to college!?" Byakuya suddenly exploded. "If you were to go there, who knows what fool of a guy you could meet! He would take advantage of you! Then what?! Of course you with your sentiments wouldn't abort the child," Rukia was taken aback to say the least. Her brother had never, to her knowledge, ever exploded. The secretary took this chance to run and close the door behind her. "and then what!? The company might even assassinate you! And that would leave me with a random child just like Hisana did…" At the mention of his dead wife and, when he turned around, the look of stupor on his sister's face, Byakuya noticeably calmed down._

"_Is that all," he muttered, avoiding eye contact. Rukia nodded four times in rapid succession before bolting from the room._

"Oi, Ryoko. Ryoko!" Ichigo waved his hands in front of her face. "Don't try to get out of this by playing stupid." Rukia swatted his hands away.

"What?" Ichigo sighed.

"Tatsuki and Inoue were just saying how popular you were."

"WHAT?!"

"You know, you're so strange that I'm not even surprised you didn't hear them say that." Rukia smacked him upside the head.

Tatsuki laughed. "Maybe that's why you're so popular. You're completely un-orthodox."

Rukia froze. "Wait. How can I be popular when the only class I've been to was all guys?" Tatsuki gave her a look. "And a girl," she lamented.

"Well, you have been walking all over the place since school started. And you did leave Psychology class amidst girls waiting for their boyfriends to come out."

"So?" Rukia looked completely flabbergasted. "What's that have anything to do with it?"

Tatsuki sweatdropped. "They asked they're bf's who you were, and well…girls talk. A lot," she finished.

"Wait. So what's that mean?" Rukia wasn't liking where this was going. At all.

"You…" Tatsuki looked directly at Rukia. "…have you ever actually looked in a mirror?"

Rukia paused to think. After freaking out so much about having to get her hair cut, her brother, for the sake of the frightened hair-dresser, had refused to let her look in the mirror. Not to mention she hadn't really wanted to examine her image. She didn't want to scar herself anymore than necessary.

"Not really…" Ichigo slapped his head.

"Are you serious?!"

Tatsuki silenced him with a hand that read, _speak another word and you're dead. _Ichigo was dead silent.

Still looking Rukia dead in the eye she said, "You were officially voted the most popular guy in school on facebook…" she looked at her watch. "…fifteen minutes ag-" she stopped short.

Rukia had fallen off the bench in a dead faint.

**~__~__~__~__~__~**

**Next time: Dance lessons, wewt! Kendo club with Aizen and hmmm…some other stuff I'll decide to throw in later. Suggestions are used and much appreciated. Like the kind soul who sorta suggested that Byakuya did it because of the guys. xD**

**So that had way longer 'parts' if you get my drift. Only three scenes. Anyways. This was longer by about 1000 words (story-line only). Total word count is around 3000 for story-line only. So I have a deal for you guys. ;) If you can get me ten reviews for this chapter, I'll double the word count for the next chapter. So 6,000 words of nummy ichiruki goodness. ^___^**

**Anyways, that aside, reviews are awesome. The reviewers are the only reason I update, after all. =) So I thank you from the bottom of my ichiruki-loving heart to anyone and everyone who reviews. They tell me what they like and what they don't like. This helps me improve, so tell me what YOU like and don't like too. Don't miss out on your part in this story.**

**And before I go, I apologize once more for any grammar/typo mistakes that I missed during re-reading.**

**So until next time,**

**^_________^**


	7. Mr Two Left Feet

'**k, so I hafta admit. O__O" I wasn't expecting you guys to actually do 10 reviews. XD I know, horrid of me I'm sure. But I'll keep my end of the deal. ^___^ 6000 words of glorious ichiruki-ness…after answering a few questions from my reviewers. =D**

**But before I do that: THANK YOU! I loved all the reviews. 'specially the detailed ones. I read them over again and again. :D They (all of the reviews) made me feel special and happy that I'm not screwing the story up. The reviews that you guys sent me were awesome and helped in this update. Because it was 6000 words, I was planning on waiting a bit before updating. But since you guys went beyond my calling (of 10 reviews) and I wasn't expecting you guys to even make it, I decided the least I could do was update around as fast as I did before. **

**And now, back to answering the questions. :D I'll type them here, so all readers can have them answered. ^___^ Many thanks to the reviewers who asked them. Now I can clear up any misunderstandings. =DD (Side note: None of this author's note, including the question/answer thing, is included in the 6000 word count. So rest assured. I'm not cheating. ^-^)**

**I wonder what Rukia as a guy looks like? (---- That may have been rhetorical. If it was, I sorry. D: )**

**--**That will either be revealed in this chapter or the next, when someone forces Rukia to look in the mirror. (Yesh, it's a minor spoiler xD)

**You have your story listed as adventure/humor. Does that mean no sparks between Ichigo and Rukia?**

**--**I'm planning on making sparks happen. :D However, I intend on making it gradual. I was worried if I labeled it as Humor/Romance people would be expecting heavy ichiruki off the get-go.

**Does Rukia reveal her identity?**

--Definitely. Though I'm not saying when or how. XD

**Who is Ichigo's date to the dance?**

--Totally a secret. Maybe I'll reveal it this chapter. :3

**Does Tatsuki fall for Ryoko?**

--Yep. =D I'll hopefully be able to pull this off as humorous, not morally disturbing, to IchiRuki fanatics. XD

**What about the role of height in Rukia's popularity? **(----Haha, I totally reworded that. But I was going to address that anyways, so I thought I might as well do it here. ;D)

--I'm going to address that this or next chapter as well. It also has to do with the whole mirror thing. :3

**/end questions. **

**If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, and I'll answer them here. : ) **

**And THANK YOU TO MY REVIEWERS AGAIN! I WOVE YOU!**

**(Wow, that author's note took up nearly a whole page. O__O)**

**Quick Recap:**

**Rukia finds out the reason why she's a guy. When meeting Tatsuki and the others for lunch she finds out two other things: one, that there's a dance. Two, that she's the most popular guy in school. As this would be a shock to any normal girl-dressed-as-a-guy, she faints. **

**And finally, on with the story!**

**~__~__~__~__~__~**

"I can't believe you fainted," Ichigo grumbled. Of course, Ryoko couldn't hear him. He was carrying the midget piggy-back style. After he had fainted, he, Tatsuki, Ishida, Chad and Orihime had tried, in vain, to wake him up. When all else failed, the rest of the group had decided unanimously that Ichigo carry Ryoko back to the dorm. He, of course, protested and demanded why no one else could do the damn deed. Sadly Tatsuki pointed out that not only did he not have class that afternoon, but he and Ryoko were dorm-mates.

He knew that was true, but hell. She didn't have to rub it in.

Ichigo paused to hoist Ryoko up higher on his back. Last thing he wanted was him slipping off…though that would solve the problem of his room-mate beheading him on account of his snooping.

He took up climbing again. Just as he hit the dorm floor, Ryoko's head lolled off his shoulder and fell precariously close to his cheek. Ichigo stiffened, feeling the soft, rhythmic breathing of the sleeping tiny terror. When his hair brushed his own cheek, Ichigo almost lost control and dropped him. Sweat mounted on his forehead. He wasn't liking this.

"Kurosaki, what are you doing?" Ichigo gave a strangled cry and let go of Ryoko. The painful meeting with the floor immediately woke him up.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"Kurosaki, what are you doing?" Ichigo gave a strangled cry and then let go of Rukia. The painful meeting with the floor immediately woke her up.

"Where the hell am I," she hissed, rubbing her bottom. Seeing Ichigo look so unnerved, Rukia grew suspicious.

"Did you _drop _me," she asked, dangerously.

Ichigo tensed up. "Hell, if you hadn't fainted, there would have been no reason for me to carry you in the first place! Wasting my lunch and all…"

"You did drop me," she declared, rising in a huff.

"You were getting bloody heavy!" Ichigo was trying to defend himself from the menace growing in front of him. Totally not working. He was, however, saved by the same voice that had caused him to drop his roommate in the first place.

"It was my fault." Rukia turned around to see Ishida standing there with a smirk on his face.

"What the hell," Ichigo exploded. "You knew what I was doing! You were one of them that made me do it!"

Ishida chuckled and pushed his glasses up. "I know, but you looked so uncomfortable standing there that I couldn't resist." Ichigo scowled. "Not to mention, you looked like you were in the position of choosing whether or not to take advantage of our young friend here," Ishida made a casual nod towards Rukia.

Ichigo looked like he was going to puke. Rukia stared at him as if he grown another head.

"That is not true you bastard," he yelped frantically jumping in place. He turned towards Rukia gesturing helplessly. "I was just bloody carrying you to your room! I'm not…I am NOT gay!"

Rukia drew her jacket around her protectively. "To think if Ishida hadn't saved me…"

"Oi! How many times must I tell you it's not true!"

At the sight of Ichigo's flustered face, Rukia burst out laughing.

"Baka, of course it's not true," she chuckled. Ishida was having a hard time not laughing. "There's no need to get so worked up about it, unless…" Rukia eyed him dubiously. "You're not actually gay are you?"

"No freakin way," he said flatly.

~__~__~__~__~__~

After the escapade with Ishida in the dorm building, Rukia had made it back, uneventfully, to Room 220. She never thought that she'd be so glad to see the place and had happily collapsed on the bed. She had attended a couple of classes the next day also uneventfully and now, two days later, Ichigo, Tatsuki and the rest had decided it was high time for dance lessons.

"I _told_ you, I am not going to the dance!" Rukia was being dragged out of her room, one arm by Tatsuki, the other by Ichigo.

"And _we_ told you that you were going," Ichigo muttered. For such a small guy, Ryoko was putting up one hell of a fight.

"And _I_ told you that no one asked me, so like hell I am going!" This wasn't necessarily true. There were dozens of girls that had come up to her after (or sometimes even during) one of her classes. But whenever someone approached her, she would make her escape. Thus she had gotten this far without getting a date successfully.

"Is that so much of a big deal?" Tatsuki grimaced as she continued pulling at Rukia.

"Yes," Rukia groaned. Although she could put up one hell of a fight, she couldn't do it for forever. Even her arms were starting to feel the strain. But it seems that lady-luck was with her.

"Argh, I give up," Ichigo yelled letting go. "This is going nowhere!"

Though true moments ago, it wasn't valid anymore. Now that Ichigo had let go, Rukia somehow vastly overpowered Tatsuki, and they both crumpled in a heap. Tatsuki groaned and rolled away from Rukia.

"What the hell," Rukia grumbled, sitting up. "Do you have a death wish for me?! This is what?" Rukia started counting on her fingers. "The fourth time I'm on the floor because of you?!"

Ichigo crossed his arms. "I'm sick of you being so stubborn! Why won't you go to the dance!?"

Rukia stood up, wobbling slightly. "I think all those times I've landed on the floor because of you," she shot him a nasty glare. "…have ruined my brain. I can't even stand."

"Stop avoiding the question, midget!" Rukia had no choice. Explaining why she wouldn't go to the dance would probably be immensely more devastating then actually going.

"I'll go, I'll go," she finally yelled. "I'll say yes to the next person who asks me, and I won't try to run away like before."

Ichigo and Tatsuki stared at her. "You were running away?"

_Crap._ Rukia stood up and made for the door, leaving Ichigo standing and Tatsuki still on the floor. "If I'm going, I need those dance lessons you promised, so I'll come."

"You're totally avoiding the question!" Both Ichigo and Tatsuki stared at her in disbelief.

"You said the guys were waiting for me in the dance room right?" Rukia walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Ichigo turned to Tatsuki and offered her a hand up. Accepting, she righted herself with relative ease.

She dusted herself off before looking Ichigo in the eye and saying, _"_Ichigo, your friend is _strange_."

"You don't have to look at me," he muttered. "And he is _not _my friend."

"Whatever you say." Ichigo twitched.

~__~__~__~__~__~

Rukia was fidgeting. Ishida, Ichigo, Tatsuki and Chad were in front of her. Staring. It was highly unnerving.

When the tension finally became unbearable, she cracked. "Are you guys just going to stand there?!"

"We're debating where we should start," Ichigo said. "You look like you're in bad shape."

Rukia wanted to slap him. She just barely resisted. "How can you know that, idiot?! I haven't done anything!"

"Baka. You don't have to do anything. It's so obvious that you're as graceful as a fly," Ichigo retaliated.

Rukia bristled with anger. "For your information," she hissed. "Flies are very graceful, with all that flying they do…" Rukia tapered off when the four of them started looking at her like she was crazy. Maybe they had always looked at her like that.

"If you think you're so graceful, prove it," he jeered. He pointed to Ishida. "Dance with Ishida for a bit, let him lead. We'll see if you can _at least_ follow." Tatsuki elbowed him. "What the hell was that for?!"

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you said that following was easier," she glared at him.

"It is easier than leading at least," Rukia replied. "And I'll _show_ you, Ichigo. I can _easily _follow Ishida." She made her way onto the dance floor but was highly displeased when Ichigo stopped her.

"What now," she asked, exasperated.

"Not yet," he said. "Close you're eyes." Rukia wasn't liking the way this was sounding. It was creepy, to say the least.

"Why…you're not going to do anything to me…are you," she asked doubtfully.

"No," Ichigo snapped. "But I will if you don't do it." Rukia rolled her eyes.

"You're so high-profile Ichigo."

"What?"

"Never mind." Rukia wasn't sure if she had said it right anyways.

"Close your eyes!"

"No need to yell!"

Rukia warily complied. She didn't like the feeling of helplessness that came with not seeing. Now all she could here were the non-existent noises in the background. "When can I open them," she nervously asked.

"When you turn around." Rukia sighed. What was with the mind games?

"Why do I have to close my eyes to turn around," she protested. "I could have done that with my eyes open."

"Just do it," came the tart reply. So Rukia turned around. She felt like she was two again, and Byakuya was teaching her how to use a gun. "_This is the trigger. Put your finger on it. That's right. Don't pull it. I said don't pull it. Rukia, put the gun down. Down. Don't pull the trigger!" _That was about the time her brother decided to install his window to cover up the gaping hole in his office.

"Now can I open my eyes?" She heard the shuffling of feet behind her. "What are you guys doing," she asked suspiciously.

"Open your eyes." Rukia's eyes snapped open, and she gasped. When she walked in the room she hadn't noticed the row of mirrors behind her. She should have known, of course. Wherever there was a dance room, there were bound to be mirrors. But who's to say that their mind always does what it's supposed to.

"In order to dance, you have to know your own body." This surprisingly came from Chad. Thinking back, this was the first time she had heard his voice. It was startlingly soft and smooth, almost like milk chocolate.

Tatsuki nodded. "So now…can you see yourself?" Rukia didn't really understand a word she said. She was still staring into her reflection.

When all of this was done and over with, Rukia had to find the hair-dresser that had done her hair. She had thought she'd look atrocious with a guy haircut. But what he had done…

He had layered her hair numerous times and snipped it short. It almost looked like she had curls that had been snapped in half. But straight. Sort of like those haircuts you saw in magazines. The style wasn't bad. It wasn't girly, that's for sure…but it was cute. Even if she wasn't acting as a guy, she might have been able to make it work. Thinking back, she had wondered why her hair had felt so light. She thought he had given her some sort of buzz cut or something…she couldn't have been farther from the truth.

All in all, Rukia couldn't help but stare. In retrospect, she looked like a bad-ass pretty boy.

~__~__~__~__~__~

In retrospect, he looked like a bad-ass pretty boy.

Ryoko was staring at himself in the mirror. Tatsuki couldn't help but be shocked. Not only had he obviously never looked in a mirror before (which she deemed a feat in itself), but he hadn't even worked on his appearance. He had no idea how attractive he was.

His porcelain skin combined with his startling blue eyes…not to mention the hair. The hair was probably what clinched the heart of all of those poor-obsessed-college-girl freaks on facebook. Of course, if he had been taller many people would think that he would have been more handsome…but Tatsuki couldn't help but think that might not be the case. His height somehow seemed to work to his advantage…albeit strange, that factor added to his overall appeal.

Ryoko was still staring at himself in shock, and Tatsuki couldn't help but let a grin flicker onto her face. What she liked the best was probably his personality and the fact that he never actually took advantage of his looks or his popularity…

Wait a sec. What she _liked?_

Tatsuki clapped her hands loudly, both to gather her classmates and her senses. "We only have an hour today, so we might as well get started." Thankfully no one else noticed her awkwardness.

"_Now_ do I dance," Ryoko grumbled. Tatsuki couldn't help but grin again. Sometimes he seemed incredibly like a puppy.

Ichigo grunted. "Ishida leads. Don't forget!"

~__~__~__~__~__~

Ishida was looking curiously over at Tatsuki. She seemed to be watching Kuchiki constantly. But perhaps he was thinking too much of it. After all, the whole reason they were here was to teach Kuchiki here how to dance. It was normal to watch their subject for data. But…

"_Now_ do I dance," Ryoko grumbled. Ishida caught the smile that flickered across Tatsuki's face. Maybe he wasn't thinking too much into to it.

Ichigo grunted. "Ishida leads. Don't forget!"

Ishida pushed up his glasses. "He knows, Kurosaki. He may be small, but he's not stupid."

Ryoko stared at him. Probably wondering if he had just been defended or insulted.

Ichigo hit the music. A slow waltz started.

"A waltz?" Ryoko looked horrified. "They _waltz_ at school dances?! What happened to the disco?"

"Pfft."

Ichigo was nearly rolling on the floor with laughter. Tatsuki had tears streaming down her face she was laughing. Even Chad was laughing. Ishida nearly followed suit and doubled over with laughter. But he restrained himself, if only just.

"Pay attention Kuchiki. It's the basic steps of a waltz of all things." Ryoko stumbled over his feet. Ishida sighed. "1, 2, 3," he snapped. "Follow the rhythm."

"What rhythm?"

Ishida decided to stop before his feet were completely mauled by Mr. Two Left Feet.

"Kurosaki, it's obvious that Kuchiki has no idea what he's doing." Ichigo banged his head against the wall, and Tatsuki grinned.

"What happened to it being easy, Ryoko-kun?"

Ryoko stuck out his tounge.

~__~__~__~__~__~

Chad was watching all of this with a silent grin. Of course he had been confused at lunch. After all, why would a guy faint after being declared popular? He had also been confused at Ryoko's adamant decline of going to the dance. After all, don't normal guys like dances? And why had Ryoko never looked in a mirror? But the most baffling thing about Ryoko wasn't his strange personality, but Ichigo. Or rather, Ichigo's reactions around Ryoko. Why was he so flustered and guarded when Ryoko was around? Why did he act like an idiot in love? In spite of everything he was, Ichigo was definitely _not _gay.

But Chad had figured it out during the dance with Ishida. Although no one else had noticed it, Ryoko was being remarkably self-conscious about his body…especially for a guy. When he saw that, everything clicked, and he knew.

Ryoko had grown up in a brothel.

It explained everything. Why he _wouldn't_ want to be popular…he didn't want to go to the dance because of all of the swarms of people that would ask him to, and that holding bad memories…Ryoko had never looked in a mirror because…for a lack of a better word…prostitutes didn't exactly want to be reminded of their failed appearances. And it even explained Ichigo! He was so flustered and guarded around him, because Ryoko had the aura of a girl. He had, after all, grown up in swarms of women.

Very satisfied with his deduction, Chad proceeded to lean back and continue watching the lesson.

~__~__~__~__~__~

Rukia was getting tired of this. It was now forty-five minutes into the lesson and she was flat-out exhausted. First it was the damn mirror. Then the failed dance test. Now, for the last thirty minutes, it was doing these stupid three-steps. Over and over and over again dancing with a stupid imaginary partner…all the while watching herself in the mirror and looking like an _idiot._

"Hasn't this gone on long enough?"

Ichigo looked at her a moment. "You tired already?"

"No way," she snapped. "This just seems rather stupid." Ichigo sighed.

"Fine, stop." Rukia happily dropped her arms to her sides. They felt like lead.

"Now what," she asked, rubbing her arms.

"Now you dance with Ishida again." Ishida looked horrified.

"Kurosaki, my feet aren't healed from the _first_ time that menace danced with me." Rukia threw him a glare.

"It's not like you're the perfect dance partner, but that's not the point! You mean I was doing all of that _just_ to dance with Ishida again?!"

Ichigo smirked. "What, did you want to graduate to dancing with me?" Rukia nearly blushed she was so horrified.

"Don't flatter yourself, you bastard," she replied caustically, kicking him in the shin. "You really are a self-conceited pig, aren't you?" Ichigo twitched. "What was that you-"

Tatsuki covered his mouth with her hand. "We had a hard enough time getting here, we are not going through all of that again because you can't keep your mouth shut," she hissed.

But Ichigo was having a hard time restraining himself, even if she was right. His body just seemed to want to naturally retaliate. When Rukia turned around to see what happened to his rebuttal, Tatsuki let Ichigo go, and he straightened up.

"Just hurry up," he said, in a huff. "We only have ten minutes until the four of us have other places to be."

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Me following a girl isn't going to look too good on the dance floor, Ichigo."

Ichigo looked at her incredulously. "You can't actually think that you are going to learn how to dance in one lesson!"

Rukia responded with a guarded expression. "So that means I'm not going to be following my partner?"

"No freakin way."

"Well," Rukia crossed her arms. "How many lessons are there then? Two? Three?"

"Five, Ryoko-kun." Rukia's head snapped to Tatsuki.

"_Five?!_ There's only four you here! What's the fifth lesson for?"

Ichigo smirked. "You'll just have to wait and see, won't you Ryoko?"

Rukia seriously wanted to kick him a few times. He hadn't been so cocky earlier that week when she had been about to 'behead him'…friends seemed to give him a lot of confidence.

"Or you could just tell me," she said dangerously. When she started approaching him, Ichigo had enough sense to back away. When she continued to follow him, Ichigo's resolve to say nothing snapped.

"Fifth lesson is obviously the final one. You'll be dancing with her." He jerked his head over to Tatsuki. "Real life scenario. Thought that would be obvious." He was talking so fast he was surprised Ryoko even understood him. Freaking hell. He was such a wuss.

Rukia sighed. "So I'm stuck with you guys for five lessons?

"We're doing you a favor, baka. Be more grateful."

"Fine. Thank you. You happy?" Rukia glared.

"I give up, there's no winning with you," Ichigo grumbled.

"Give up then," Rukia said. "But when is this dance thing?"

"Next week, Kuchiki." Rukia gasped. _Next week?_ "So you don't have a lot of time. I'd get my act together if I were you and find a date."

Rukia groaned. "What if I don't find a date?"

Ichigo looked at her, pityingly. "Then I guess you're going to be the only guy there without one, Ryoko."

~__~__~__~__~__~

Despite her popularity ranking number three (according to facebook) in the entire campus, Tatsuki still hadn't asked anyone to the dance. She could have her pick of virtually any guy in the school, but…she didn't really like dances and was only going because Orihime asked her too. She wouldn't not go after promising her best friend she would.

Besides, if she copped out (like she wanted to), she was pretty sure Ryoko would think she was a hypocrite. It was partly her fault that he had to go anyways.

Tatsuki sighed.

"What if I don't find a date," Ryoko groaned.

That totally sounded like he had just summed up her predicament. This last minute, hardly anyone would not have dates…Of course, the person she wanted to ask didn't have one but not only was he the most popular guy in college, he had just declared to both she and Ichigo that he would say yes to the next person who asked him. She couldn't very well ask him after that.

"Then I guess you're going to be the only guy at the dance without one, Ryoko."

Although these comments were aimed at his roommate, they seemed to be doing more damage to her than Ryoko. Ishida interrupted before Tatsuki could yell at Ichigo to, frankly, shut up.

"Arisawa, I don't remember you ever mentioning a date to the dance." Tatsuki froze. Exactly how had this landed back on her? She glared at Ishida. She would make sure to make him pay for that later.

"That's because I haven't asked anyone yet," she muttered under her breath. Ishida smiled. To think. Someone might actually think he was doing this out of the kindness of his heart, not because he was a conniving ass.

"So why don't you ask Kuchiki to the dance?" Tatsuki looked horrified. If she didn't do something soon, her face would be beet red.

"You can't force Tatsuki-chan to do something like that!" She was immensely relieved to find Ryoko coming to her rescue. "She probably has someone she wants to ask anyways," Rukia looked at her for support.

_Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap._

Ishida, though, had already worked out that Tatsuki wanted to ask a special _someone_ to the dance. And he had proceeded to make sure she was completely humiliated.

"Is that true Arisawa?" Tatsuki seriously wanted him dead right now.

"N-not really." Better to deny it. Who knows what Ishida would say if she actually agreed.

~__~__~__~__~__~ "N-not really." Rukia looked curiously over at Tatsuki. It was obvious that she wanted to ask someone else, so why was she denying it?

"Then it's settled. Arisawa will take you, Kuchiki. Now you can't complain about not having a date." Rukia gaped open-mouthed at Ishida. She didn't know that he could be so devious. At least now she knew why Tatsuki had denied it. Who knows what Ishida would have done if she had said yes.

But come to think of it, where was Ichigo in all of this mess? She glanced behind her to see the Strawberry leaning against the mirrors, a strange look on his face. It took Rukia a moment to classify it as jealousy.

Rukia clenched her fist. So he liked Tatsuki? Then why had he accepted the other girl's invitation to the dance if he liked someone else? And why was this bothering her?

Although her anger still growing, Rukia straightened up and plastered a smile across her face. Time to get revenge on the orange pufferfish. She turned to Tatsuki.

_This better work._

"If you'd take me to the dance, I'd be exceedingly grateful. I'd rather it be you then one of those bimbos…" Rukia paused. That last word may not have been exactly charming. "But if you want to take someone else, that's entirely up to you and I wouldn't be insulted in the least." That all seemed rather wordy. Did she actually mess that up?

Rukia waited with bated breath. She didn't like doing this to Tatsuki, but watching Ichigo's frustration start to rise…was both highly enjoyable…although a tad irritating.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"But if you want to take someone else, that's entirely up to you."

Now everyone in the room was staring at her. Tatsuki couldn't believe what Ishida had just done.

"If you want to, not because Ishida forced you to," Tatsuki threw a glare in Ishida's direction. Ishida, for his part, pretended to not see it. "I'd be happy if you'd go to the dance with me…Of course, you could ask anyone in the school and they'd say yes…"

Ryoko blinked a couple of times. "So you don't want to?"

Tatsuki gawked at him. He actually wanted to go with her?

Ichigo, not being able to take any more of the scene, interrupted. "Take that as a yes, Ryoko. Tatsuki is so beside herself, she can't answer." Tatsuki whacked him on the back of the head.

"That's not true!"

Ishida chuckled. "Isn't it?"

"You keep out of this Ishida," she snapped. "Haven't you done enough?"

"Sorry to interrupt," came a low voice. "But don't Ishida and Tatsuki have class now?" Ryoko looked at Chad in shock. Tatsuki couldn't blame him. That was probably the most he'd heard Chad say since he met him.

Ishida, tables turned, was now staring in horror at his watch. They had gone fifteen minutes over.

"Kurosaki, this is your fault," he fumed.

"What the hell, how is this my fault?!"

Seeing both Ishida and Ichigo standing off and glaring at each other seemed like a much needed comic relief, and Tatsuki exploded with laughter. The tension that had built up was long gone, and she felt free.

"You know that you're wasting time just arguing about it."

Ishida opened his mouth to repudiate whatever she just said before realizing she was right.

"Damn it, Kurosaki. You're not worth me being late to class." With that he stopped talking and made for the door in record time.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said bluntly before rushing out.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said bluntly before rushing out.

Rukia turned to see Tatsuki preparing to leave as well. "I hafta go too, but I'm not so uptight about being late as four-eyes is." Rukia was about to lift a hand as a farewell when Tatsuki turned to look at her expectantly.

Rukia faltered and looked up at Ichigo.

"Oi, don't look up at me, midget…" but he said it half-heartedly and took pity on Rukia.

Ichigo bent down so that he was level with her. "She wants to know when and how you're going to pick her up for the dance," he whispered into her ear. Rukia's head shot up.

"The dance isn't here," she blurted. Ichigo looked like he wanted to throw his room-mate back to the depths of hell of which he came. Ryoko was totally not conspicuous. In fact he hadn't even realized he'd done anything wrong. Tatsuki burst out laughing.

"No," she chuckled. "It's not." She wiped a tear from her eye.

Rukia gaped at her. Ichigo, once again, came to her rescue. "You guys can double-up with me and my date. Me and Ryoko will pick you up at seven. Nod, baka," he said, forcing Rukia's head into a nodding motion.

Tatsuki grinned at the uncomfortable look on Rukia's face. "Got it. Well I'll see you guys later I guess," she said, waving to the them. "You too, Chad."

Rukia gasped and whirled around to face Chad as Tatsuki left. "I forgot you were here!"

"Baka! That's not polite," Ichigo muttered.

Chad didn't seem to care though and mumbled a good-bye before leaving.

Ichigo turned to Rukia. "You know, you really are strange. You have no people-sense whatsoever, yet you're so bloody popular."

Rukia grinned. "It runs in the family." _After all, every time her brother left work, he was swarmed by fan-girls. So she supposed he wasn't un-popular._

~__~__~__~__~__~

Aizen stopped at the library doors. Alone. He had had a difficult time getting rid of his teacher's aid, but he had done it. Content with himself as a pure genius, he opened the library doors.

Now that he was in the confines of the empty library, he felt safe. He pushed back his hair, and then removed his glasses, looking at them in contempt.

The glasses were ugly and black. He had never needed them and only wore them because it fit with the persona he was trying to emit. _Kind, polite, dorky, and of course the most important of all. Harmless._

"Ichimaru, you here?" His voice resounded on through the empty library. A supposed emergency staff meeting was supposed to take place in the library at this time. And it was. Between him and Gin.

It was, quite literally, amazing. Students came and went through here every day, and yet… Aizen chuckled to himself. No student knew what actually went down. Alive anyways. The ones that had discovered their secrets were long…well. No need to think of such gruesome thoughts on such a lovely afternoon.

He walked into the head librarians office.

"Every time, this room never ceases to amaze me," he muttered to no one in particular. "Ichimaru, I know you're in here."

_Here_ was spacious. At least, more spacious than the tiny cubby he had for an office. The walls were papered in exotic prints and the floor was made of shining maple. The office was full of maps and paper which cluttered the floor and a side table as well as the librarian's desk. Atop the desk also rested two things of importance. One was a globe. The other a name tag engraved in silver with the words, _Ichimaru Gin _and in subscript, _Head Librarian._

Annoyed by the lack of responses he was getting, Aizen dropped the formalities. "Gin, I know you're here. Come out already before I lose my temper."

He heard a low chuckle. Aizen let out an annoyed sigh. "You never get tired of trying to sneak up on me, do you?"

"Not at all, Aizen-sensei. It's highly…" Gin paused for an effect. "…entertaining, so you could say."

"Well I don't say," Aizen snapped. "And if you don't mind, how has everything been going over there? Why did you call this supposed meeting?"

Gin shook his head. "You're so secretive even in the most secure of places. Sometimes I can't even follow you."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Gin dramatically heaved a sigh. "Very well, very well. No rest for the librarian, eh?"

Aizen shot him a look. "Gin."

"There have been some…eh…problems with the experiments."

"Problems," Aizen asked. "What problems? Be more specific," he hissed.

"Why Aizen-sensei. I thought you didn't want me to be specific."

"Just tell me already," he repeated calmly. "And I'd be grateful if you'd hurry it up. I have a club to oversee soon. People are going to become suspicious if I'm late to everything."

"Not at all. They'll just think you're an idiotic old doddy…" At the look Aizen was giving him, Gin coughed.

"The experiments are starting to rot…"

Aizen swore under his breath. "I thought we had more time. You told me we had more time."

"Well, yes. But that was before you started experimenting on them." Aizen refused to rise to the taunt. Instead, he regained his composure.

"No matter then. It's not all ruined. Of course, we'll have to work faster….but I know where I can get more fresh samples. After all, it's not like we can make due with rotting ones." Aizen smiled darkly. But the moment past and Aizen messed up his hair and put his glasses back on.

"I don't know why you keep wearing that." Aizen resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Gin knew exactly why he wore them. He just liked to play stupid.

"I'll leave the rest to you. Like I said, I've got a Kendo club, of all things, to attend."

Gin shook his head. "The things you do to uphold your image."

"The things I do," Aizen repeated before walking out the doors. But it wasn't long before Aizen heard Gin's voice again.

_The meeting is over. I repeat, the meeting is over. The library has reopened. Please feel free to come back when you feel like it. Or don't. Less work for me._

Aizen shook his head. That was Gin, through and through. He was surprised that Gin hadn't been fired yet.

Well, he would be surprised. If he didn't know. Aizen pushed up his glasses.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"Ryoko, go get your protective equipment," Ichigo yelled. "You can play in that!"

"W-what the hell is this," she spluttered, lifting up the head piece. "This has nothing to do with swords!"

Ichigo gaped at her. "Don't tell me you decided to join without even knowing what Kendo was?!"

Rukia look at him indignantly. "Of course I know what it is, I've just never used this crap before," she grumbled, gesturing to the gear.

Ichigo was shocked. Either he was really, really good, or he sucked. He figured the latter.

"Well whatever then. Don't use it." The rest of the students looked at him in shock.

"Are you serious man?! That dude's gonna get killed."

"Yeah! Even you wear the gear! Even Sensei!"

"What are you going to do if he gets hurt!?"

Ichigo started growing irritated with all of the complaints. Finally, he snapped.

"Just shut up already," he yelled. The immediate silence that followed was broken only by Rukia, who was trying to get out of the damn chest protector. Ichigo twitched but said nothing, not wanting to break the much needed silence.

"Good afternoon."

Ichigo whipped around to see Aizen walk into the room, smile on his face. "I'm glad to see you all are ready…" he paused with a look in Rukia's direction. She had now fallen on the floor and was wrestling with the armor as if it were a snake. "…for the most part. Would someone mind helping him with that?"

The students all threw wary glances at each other. A poor soul had tried to help her with that earlier. He was now in the nurses office spotting twelve new and unique wounds. Now all were afraid of Rukia mistaking them for the armor and throttling them.

"For the love of Pete!" Ichigo stormed over to Rukia and successfully pulled Rukia and the armor apart in one sweep. There was scattered applause.

"Thank you," Rukia said stiffly. Ichigo plopped her down.

"Don't mention it. Seriously." Ichigo went back to the front of the room.

"Kuchiki. I didn't know you were in the club."

Rukia laughed warily. "Ichigo is very persuasive."

"More like sensei's name," he muttered. Rukia chucked her sword at him the moment the teacher turned his back on her. _Thud._

"What do you know," Rukia chuckled. "Ichigo's head is hollow."

The class burst into laughter.

"Why you stupid midget…if that wasn't blunted…" Aizen broke up the fight rather quickly though, placing a hand on Ichigo's sword.

"Come now, the only way to settle a fight is through kendo, of course." Aizen gestured towards the center of the room. "Now why don't you guys give these two some space. Though I suspect it won't take a while."

The students moved over to the walls surrounding the room. "Sensei, Ichigo is one of the best kendo-swordsmen in the district." There was a murmur of agreement. "And Kuchiki is going against him with virtually no defense! And he's so small!" The murmur got louder. But the louder it got, the deeper Rukia's frown got until she finally exploded.

"I'm not totally defenseless!" She glared at her fellow club-mates. "I'm perfectly capable of defending myself just with the ha-biki (the sword). That bulky crap," she muttered, gesturing to the protective gear on the floor. "…would just hinder me."

"He's right you know," Aizen said, gesturing to her slight build. "Just let them fight. I'll break it up if it gets out of hand."

Now Rukia was practically fuming. She tightened her grip on the sword, eyes blazing. These people were underestimating her at their own peril.

Rukia and Ichigo turned to face each other. Aizen looked at both of his students, hand on the swords.

"Start!"

~__~__~__~__~__~

Ichigo was sprawled on the floor. He didn't know what hit him. Actually he did, but he didn't want to believe it.

_Ichigo ran towards Ryoko, executing a swift attack to his wrist. Or what he thought was a swift attack to the wrist. But Ryoko had disappeared…just vanished. All he hit was solid air. _

"_Ichigo, is that all you got?" Ryoko had somehow managed to get behind him._

"_Not by a long shot." Serious now, he made for Ryoko, this time thrusting his sword for a direct hit to his chest. Ryoko easily parried and made two quick strikes on his right and left side before striking his head with a resounding _crack._ Ichigo stumbled and landed on the floor._

_Ichigo had fallen in defeat. Rather miserably. Ryoko had toyed with him and won in under two minutes flat. _

Ichigo groaned and pulled himself up. Ryoko was surrounded by a swarm of guys.

~__~__~__~__~__~

Rukia turned her head to see Ichigo groan and hoist himself up. She grinned.

"I guess you shouldn't underestimate your opponents, Ichigo. You might land up sprawled on your back."

Ichigo glared at her. "How the hell did you do that?!"

"Do what," she asked innocently.

"You know exactly what."

Rukia laughed. "I guess I should have told you earlier."

"Told me what," he asked suspiciously.

"Well, I did warn you I was gifted at the katana…"

"Tell me _what?!_"

Rukia pushed the hair out of her face. "I'm a level eight-dan."Ichigo's face went pale. "What?" That wasn't possible. Even he was just a level six-dan and he had trained for years on end to achieve it. For Ryoko to be at the highest rank…to even out-rank him…

"My brother trained me since I was five," she said vaguely. But despite her play at modesty, Rukia was enjoying the attention. Back in the company, this sort of feat was no big deal, especially since Hitsugaya-taichou had achieved it when he was much, much younger. He was a prodigy, after all. She was just normal. Or so she had thought before arriving at this college. Lost in her thoughts, she failed to notice Aizen.

Unbeknownst to her, Aizen was gazing at Rukia curiously. _Not only is he incredibly powerful, but he's light and agile as well. What a waste on a mere college-student. _

"Kuchiki, Ryoko," he mused. "I've heard the name somewhere before." _No matter, _he thought. _He'd remember the name eventually. _Aizen smiled to himself. _At least he had found a prime candidate for his experiments. He had a feeling Kuchiki, Ryoko would do. Quite nicely._

~__~__~__~__~__~

**As promised. :D That actually ended up being almost 7000 words. O__O" When I was at 4900 I nearly gave up. XD It was a stretch making it, but I hoped you enjoyed it. :3 Because it's longer, it was way harder to re-read this, so I am extremely sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes you found.**

**And once again, THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! My reviewers are amazing. They have a special place in my heart. =) Please review! Knowing if I'm doing bad or good is vital to the story's health. **

**But back to the story. I hope I didn't make Aizen too corny with all the 'experiments' and 'raw material' and all. I think I'm starting to make a lot of characters OOC, like Byakuya…^^" Anyways~ in case your wondering where this story is going…the story will end roughly after the dance. As to why, I'll let you draw your own conclusions. **

**Once again, reviews are loved. Reviewers are adored. :D**

**Until next time,**

**^________^**


	8. The Number One Girl

**Hey guys! I'm really sorry for the late update. It had nothing to do with the reviews. D: The reviews were so awesome, I wanted to update faster but…I got sidetracked by the real world. -.-' I didn't even realize that all this time had gone on. Guess that's what life does to you. By the time I'm fifty, I'll be wondering what happened when I was 17. **

**Anyways, I've been getting a number of comments about Ichigo's date. ^^" Don't get your hopes up for something special though…it's pretty random, and your hopes might be dashed (but no, I didn't make the character up).**

**THANK YOU TO ALL MY LOVELY REVIEWERS! You make my ichiruki-world go round. You are all highly loved and appreciated. Kudos go to the people who write such awesome reviews that I have to read them in my spare time. XD Hell, kudos go to all of my -totally wicked- reviewers. :D**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own Bleach. Sadly.**

**RECAP (once again, just for last chapter): Rukia finally has started the promised dance lessons. During the first of these lessons, Ishida coerces Tatsuki into asking 'Ryoko' to the dance. In retrospect, though, it was 'Ryoko' who asked Tatsuki because of the aura of jealousy that could be felt from Ichigo. It's 'highly likely' that this was misinterpreted…**

**Later we meet Aizen who was behaving strangely. It seems that he really is behind the disappearances and that there is a reason why Rukia and the company cannot find the bodies of the missing.**

**And finally, we ended with Rukia absolutely humiliating Ichigo during Kendo. But this glorious event had its repercussions. Now Rukia has fallen under Aizen's radar as prime 'experiment' material. **

**Oh noes. **

**//end recap.**

**Once again, I apologize for any grammar/typo/inconsistency mistakes. Last time (after re-reading for the fifth time) I found that I had used a 'Rukia' where I should have used a 'Ryoko'. **

**And before my readers throttle me, on with the story. **

**~__~__~__~__~__~**

"Ichigo!" Rukia kicked the top bunk. Ichigo grunted, the springs creaking and groaning, as he rolled over.

"What the hell? What time is it," he mumbled, reaching over the side to slap a clock. When his hand failed to slap anything but air, he retracted it. "Jus gimme five mor minutessss," he slurred, clutching his pillow tightly.

"Idiot! Pay attention," Rukia hissed, kicking the bed even harder. Said kick was hard enough to push Ichigo up and over the bed, and he landed with a resounding _thud_.

"W-what?! I wasn't doing anything I swear!" Ichigo sat up to see his roommate staring at him with an amused expression.

"So you were…doing something?" Ichigo blushed.

"I wasn't!" Rukia smirked and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"Hmmm…it's probably something horribly embarrassing…" Ichigo's face turned a shade of red she hadn't thought humanly possible. "…and something you could only do in bed…" Rukia was having a grand time with this. She had no idea why Ichigo was turning the color of ripe strawberries, but it obviously was something so horribly humiliating that only a guy would know.

"Sh-shut up," Ichigo stood up in a rush. "Why the hell'd you wake me up anyways?" He managed to not only successfully plant a glare on his face but change the subject as well. Modesty aside, he was damn brilliant.

"I was bored," she said flatly.

"What the hell," he spluttered. "You didn't just wake me up for that." Rukia rolled her eyes.

"I was wondering…"

Ichigo crossed his arms. "Spit it out already! It's twelve in the bloody morning for crying out loud! We have class tomorrow! Biology of all things!"

"If you're going to be like that fine," she huffed. "I wasn't going to tell you anyways." Rukia went under the covers again and turned to face the wall.

Ichigo gaped at the back now facing him. "You mean you kicked me awake, humiliated me, and _now_ you have the nerve to act like I'm the jerk here?!"

Silence greeted him. His speech obviously wasn't doing much wear on the wall, let alone his roommate's back.

"Fine then," he grumbled. Rukia heard the all-to-familiar squeak as Ichigo climbed up onto his bunk along with the tell tale grumbling that accompanied it. She let out an inaudible sigh as she heard him shift around in his bed for awhile before everything was eerily silent.

Rukia squeezed her eyes shut and hugged the blanket. For some reason, she felt almost…well, almost _sad._ She shook herself roughly. What in the world was happening to her?

"Hey Ryoko." Ichigo's voice softly bounced off the silence. Rukia kept her mouth closed, not wanting to talk to him anymore. She heard him sigh. "Um…sorry. I should have listened."

Rukia unconsciously let a smile flicker across her face. When she finally realized that she was positively beaming over a half-assed apology from a person she was supposed to hate, no less, she severely chastised herself. Her actions were totally unbecoming of her.

"Idiot," she muttered into the darkness. Up above her, Ichigo barely caught the reply he obviously wasn't supposed to hear. That damned word. But instead of characteristically scowling he did something totally out of the ordinary. He smiled.

His roommate really was, one of a kind.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"Tatsuki!"

Tatsuki turned to see Orihime barreling towards her. She put up her hands in surprise.

"Stop before you crash into me," she yelped. Orihime managed to pull to a stop mere inches before the seemingly inevitable collision took place. Tatsuki went limp with relief. "Don't scare me."

Orihime smiled cheerfully. "Tatsuki's the strongest person in the entire world, how could I scare you?"

Tatsuki chuckled weakly. "Yeah. Go figu-"

"We're going to be late to Bio!" Tatsuki looked at her friend, openmouthed. She seriously changed topics faster that she could keep up.

"Yeah, well that's where I was going." Orihime beamed up at her.

"Then lets go together!"

Tatsuki let out a loose laugh. "Yeah. Come-on."

The two friends rounded a corner.

"So how's the dance lessons going?" Tatsuki nearly stopped in surprise.

"W-why bring that up?"

"I felt bad that I have class when you guys meet…but…" Orihime brought her face close to her friends. "You're acting so suspicious. Can't I ask," she pouted.

"Um, you can." Tatsuki's voice rose a couple of pitches. "But why so suddenly?"

"Ehhhh. I was just curious." Orihime turned back to gaze down the hallway. "Ano…"

Tatsuki froze. She wasn't liking the question that was sure to follow.

"Your cheeks are bright red." Tatsuki's hands went right up to her face. _She was blushing like a school-girl? WTH!?_

"Um…it's the cold." Who was gonna buy that? It was the start of spring for crying out loud!

"I see!" Tatsuki sweatdropped Well, if anyone was going to buy it, it definitely was her orange-haired friend.

"But…is Kuchiki-kun the one you asked to the dance?" Tatsuki nearly fell over. How did she actually get it right? She was always way off. And by way off, she meant, way, way, _way, _off. Like the Aizen-sensei incident.

"H-h-how did you know," she mumbled, averting her eyes.

"Eeeeeh, Uryu was right." Tatsuki froze. "You do like him."

"_What _did that four-eye freak tell you?" She should have known Ishida was behind this.

"Um, nothing," Orihime said hurriedly. She had forgotten that he had told her not to say anything. Darn her and her big mouth.

"Orihime, come back here!" Orihime was now racing off towards the classroom.

Tatsuki sighed and gave up the chase. She didn't have the energy that Orihime had in the morning. It was just too early.

It wasn't until she entered the classroom as the bell rang that something impossible struck her.

_Uryu?_

_~__~__~__~__~__~_

"Kuchiki-kun, can I speak to you a moment?"

Rukia stopped abruptly as the all-to-familiar voice called out to her. Ichigo froze right next to her, and gave her a sharp look. She could swear it said, _do you want me to stay? _Or maybe it was, _Hah, you're in for it now, can I watch? _She couldn't be too sure.

"Kurosaki-kun, why don't you head to class," Rukia twitched. Obviously that silent, ambiguous question was decided by the teacher in front of her. "I'll make sure I excuse you friend," he said, gesturing to Rukia. "from being late. So go on. I have some matters to discuss with him."

Ichigo stiffly walked towards the class, making it in just after Tatsuki.

"Aizen-sensei, is there something you want," Rukia asked sweetly. Aizen chuckled.

"How did you know," he replied good-naturedly. Rukia forced herself not to scowl at the obviously fake display of gentleness.

"Well, Sensei, you did stop me as I was going to class."Aizen nodded thoughtfully. "I was watching you during kendo, and I must say I find it strange."

Rukia froze. She knew she shouldn't have shown off. Nothing good ever comes from being conceited, even if only rarely.

"What is, sensei?" Rukia was having to deliberately stop herself from putting a stutter in her voice. Did she actually just blow the mission?

"You are incredibly gifted. Yet you are only a college student. Isn't it strange that you do nothing with that power? If you entered any Kendo competitions, I would have recognized your name…but…you haven't." Crap. She was screwed. "But anyways, like I was saying, you are gifted. And as such," Aizen crouched down and stared Rukia in the eyes. "I would like you to join my private club. One of the exclusive admissions that have been given to no more than twenty students during the lifetime of this college."

Rukia gaped. Maybe good things _did_ come out of being conceited after all. But wasn't this all-to-suspicious? Rukia mentally shook herself. But somehow she had fallen under his radar…this was the perfect chance to find the bodies before beating the hell out of Aizen-_sensei._

"Of course, there are five other students in the club this year," Aizen continued. "The most it has ever been at any one time. So it's not you alone. If it'll help, Kurosaki-kun is one of them as well."

Rukia was paralyzed. Ichigo worked for Aizen? So did that mean Ichigo was a spy? She had trusted him! And look where trust got her. He had betrayed her. She stifled a cry of indignation and averted her eyes from the so-called teacher.

"I accept." She was not going to let anything ruin her mission, including Ichigo. She bit her lip.

Aizen smiled. "Our next meeting takes place on the evening of the 22nd ." Rukia just barely kept her jaw from dropping. That was the evening of the dance. "In the ball-room, half-way during the dance," So he knew that. "Please meet me and the rest of the members in the backroom." Before Rukia could ask where that exactly was, he continued. "You'll know where it is when you get there."

Rukia nodded stiffly, still upset over the previous revelation. This wasn't the first time she was betrayed, but for some reason, it sure hurt the worst.

"Got it, sensei."

~__~__~__~__~__~

Ichigo watched as Ryoko came into the room and handed the teacher a slip of paper. For some reason, though, the little bugger was glaring at him as if there was no tomorrow. What did Aizen tell him?!

He stifled his curiosity though, and continued listening to the teacher.

"Well pair-up then! Girl-guy, because heaven knows I can't trust two guys not to blow up the entire room," the teacher shook her head. "At least a girl will prevent any of that from happening simply because she doesn't want a bad hair day." Ichigo watched as at least half of the girls in the classroom twitched.

"Ano…Kuchiki-kun…as Arisawa is the top student in this class," Ichigo could just feel Tatsuki's anger radiating towards their teacher. She did not need to teacher to bloody well show her off. "I want you two to pair up. After all, Kuchiki-kun, you did miss half of the class." With that, it seems that Tatsuki wasn't the only one angry. The rest of the girls were now glaring daggers at both Tatsuki and the teacher. He could practically hear what they were trying to telepathically say, the aura was so intense. _Why does SHE get to pair up with Kuchiki-kun?_

But hell, he thought. Hadn't Ryoko missed more than that small amount of time? Was it really only an hour?

~__~__~__~__~__~

Rukia bit back a sigh of relief. So she wasn't pairing with the strawberry. Goodness knows, she couldn't handle it now. And despite the insult to her kind, she profusely thanked the teacher for believing in the vanity of girls.

"Sorry about that, Ryoko-kun." Rukia snapped out of her thoughts when Tatsuki approached her looking apologetic. "She didn't need to rub that in your face."

Rukia laughed and stood up. "No matter. So…what are we doing?"

Tatsuki grinned. "You really did miss everything, didn't you? Come on, we're dissecting cats…"

~__~__~__~__~__~

"You really did miss everything, didn't you? Come on, we're dissecting cats…" She nearly burst out laughing at the horrified look on Ryoko's face. At least he was feeling better now, even if he was just distracted. She could feel the vast array of emotions toiling under his skin when he walked into the room.

"What kind of sick world is this," he yelped. "You dissect poor…kitties?" Tatsuki couldn't help herself anymore, she started laughing. No one seemed to notice though, they were to involved in cutting the felines open.

"What's so funny?" Tatsuki clutched her sides. He was so strange. So un-orthodox. So adorable.

~__~__~__~__~__~

Ichigo was now watching the scene with utmost anger. He leaned on his arm and glared across the room at Ryoko and Tatsuki who seemed to be having a grand time.

"Um…Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo's attention snapped back to the table. He looked apologetically over at Orihime who was standing there looking lost.

"Sorry Inoue."

Orihime looked up at him. "Yeah…um…will you hold the specimen down as I cut?"

Now Ichigo was feeling horrible. He was totally being a jerk. Inoue loved cute things (hell, she even called it a specimen instead of a cat so she could dissect it without crying), and yet he was basically forcing her to maul one.

"I'll cut if you want."

Orihime looked immensely relieved. "If you insist."

~__~__~__~__~__~

Rukia felt like she was going to puke. "I-I can't do this," she muttered, feeling faint. "But I'm glad you're having a field day with this."

Tatsuki was holding herself back from laughing again. He seemed slightly insulted the last time she had let herself go. "You are really girly, Ryoko-kun." Rukia froze. She didn't realize that not wanting to destroy something was girly. She mentally slapped herself. Wasn't it natural for guys to want to destroy things?! "But that's a relief."

Rukia looked at her, openmouthed. "What?"

"Guys who pretend they're all super macho are really irritating." Rukia nearly cried aloud with relief. She was not dead meat.

"I respect life," she deadpanned. That itself was so ironic, considering her job. But perhaps it was her job that made her respect life in general. It was horrible when it had to be snuffed out.

"I think you're special." The cat was now all but forgotten, lying on a single, silver tray.

Rukia sighed. "I'm not special. Just like everyone else, I am living for the one moment in my life that will make this world worth living for. Some people will never experience it. Others will experience it and die immediately after…" Rukia tapered off, remembering her old boss. "The special people," she continued, redirecting her thoughts back to the conversation. "are the people who experience it more than once and still continue living…"Rukia tuned back into the real world to find Tatsuki staring at her. "S-sorry," she stammered. "I was droning wasn't I?" She weakly chuckled.

"I still think you're special."

Rukia looked at her shocked. "But…"

"You have to be special to realize that. So you're special. Stop arguing." Tatsuki crossed her arms.

Rukia gaped at her and then burst out laughing. It was slightly melodic, and the entire class turned to watch her, spellbound.

~__~__~__~__~__~

Ryoko gaped at her and then burst out laughing. It was slightly melodic, and the entire class turned to watch him, spellbound.

When he realized that the entire class was now staring at him, some girls with strange lovelorn looks on their faces, Ryoko immediately stopped.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

"Alright class, back to your seats!" But that alone was not enough to stop the girls from going crazy. "Kuchiki-kun, do you have a girlfriend?"

"What's your type, Kuchiki-kun?"

"Kuchiki-kun, will you go out with me?"

"Over here, Kuchiki-kun!"

"Kuchiki-kun!!"

All the while these outbursts were going on, Ryoko was watching in shock. Tatsuki took pity on him and tried to intervene.

"Oi, leave him alone," she muttered, pushing one particularly pushy blond girl off him. "He's not a doll or a plaything of yours to mess with."

"Well what gives you the right to stop us," she viciously asked. There was a loud chorus of _yeahs _and _that's right_ in the background. In the meantime, the teacher had fainted, and some of the guys were wondering if the should make a call to 911 and ask for animal control.

Ichigo came to the rescue. "Oi, just leave them alone."

The crowd of savage, love-sick girls turned to Ichigo. He started wondering if this was worth being castrated…but nonetheless he gathered his courage and stood his ground.

"Ryoko asked Tatsuki to the dance."

"EHHHH?!" The result was simultaneous and almost, if not more so, as devastating as the laugh.

"Wasn't it girls-ask-guys themed?!"

"She's only ranked number three!"

"Why'd he ask _her?!"_

"Number _one _wanted to ask you!!!"

"What?" The room fell into deep silence as Ryoko talked for the first time since the whole episode had started. Tatsuki felt sick. She was going to kill Ishida…she never would have agreed if he hadn't started the whole mess.

"Yeah, Number one wanted to ask you," a small mousy-haired girl said.

"Stop with the numbers," he snapped. "What's her name?"

"Nell-sama. A senior."

~__~__~__~__~__~

**So yesh, I must apologize. That was rather short, and I did want to continue. But I thought it would be a nice cliff-hanger to leave it with Nell suddenly appearing in the story. XD Seems that Tatsuki and Ichigo have some competition. (Btw, this is the old Nell, not the baby-one. I'm not that creepy. O__O)**

**To those of you worried about Ichigo's date, I wouldn't spend too much time mulling over it. There is no way, in any universe, that Ichigo could possibly…well, I might be spoiling it. **

**Please review. :D Reviews are loved. Reviewers are not only loved, they are absolutely adored. ^___^ I'll say it now but most of you probably already know. This story is only progressing because of you guys. If there were no reviews, I'd assume that no one was reading it, and it might be a year or two before I decide to update or, like a couple of my more unfortunate stories, deleted. SO I WOVE YOU GUYS! Thanks for keeping this story alive. :3 Suggestions/feedback on how the story is doing is greatly appreciated. **

**A little spoiler-type-thing for you guys, because of the short chapter.**

**Next Time:**

**Rukia meets Nell and things start to heat up as Ichigo's feelings become more and more confused. **

**And what's this?! Does Rukia reveal her secret?! To who or…dare I say…whom!? **

**Find out next time, with…**

**The Revelation.**

**//end.**

**(Haha, I totally felt like some sort of announcer). But I think this story might be drawing to a close in…maybe four chapters. But we'll see. **

**Once more, I apologize for any grammar/spelling mistakes as well as any inconsistencies. I do try my best to catch them all.**

**Until next time…**

**^______^**


	9. Revelations

**-Sorry for the delayed release. You may not believe me, but I started this around two or three weeks ago, but I hit a snag and couldn't continue, so this author's note is REALLY old. My apologizes...also, I'm not too sure about this chapter. I might be losing any 'touch' I had. ;-; If it's too serious for you, skip down some...it fluctuates between serious/non-serious moments --)**

**So I was day-dreaming a while ago, bored as I was, and I thought up what I think is the best possible ending to this fanfic. I just have no idea what I'm going to do to get there. Well I must do a bit of forewarning. The ending might be a little…angst...for the so-called genre of this fic.**

**But warning aside, I shall continue with my usual business. :D**

**I WOVE YOU, REVIEWERS! Your reviews, like always, make my day very happy. ^____^ I thank you from the bottom of my shallow heart. =3**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own Bleach.**

**RECAP: Rukia finds out that Ichigo is involved in Aizen's so-called club. She assumes that he has betrayed her, and then proceeds to ignore him. Meanwhile, during Chemistry class, things get out of hand and a swarm of fan girls basically attack 'Ryoko'. During this attack, emotions run high as the girls wonder why Ryoko chose to ask Tatsuki to the dance of all people…especially when Number One wanted to ask him. With all of this number business, Ryoko snaps, and demands to know exactly who this person is.**

**Rukia finds out that this person goes by the name of Nell. A senior.**

**//end.**

**~__~__~__~__~__~**

_Nell-sama. A senior._

The room went silent for the umpteenth time that hour. Rukia could barely conceal her irritation. What was with all of these frivolous girls. Who the bloody hell cared about numbers?

"I don't care." Rukia tried to keep her eyes on the floor knowing that if she looked up she might kill them all right then and there. Sadly, with her stifling curiosity, she couldn't help but look up.

Tatsuki's mouth had dropped open….but she wasn't the only one. The rest of the room was staring at her in shock.

_Just great. _

**~__~__~__~__~__~**

The rest of the room was staring at her in shock. And then all of a sudden, the room exploded into quiet murmurs.

_How can he say that?_

_Not care about numbers?_

_What is he, a priest?_

_He couldn't be…gay you think?_

_Nooooo, my Kuchiki-sama! _

_My prince is gay!_

_But gay?_

_This is Nell-sama we're talking about!_

_How can he not care and NOT be gay?_

The murmurs were interrupted as the pushy blonde from before stepped forward. "How can you not care? She's _number one!"_

"I said…" Ryoko's hands were trembling from anger. "I don't bloody give a crap."

"How can you say something like that?!"

"Because!" Ryoko slammed his hands onto the table. "Because! How can you guys be so…so…_shallow_? I don't care about the damned numbers." A quiet shush encased the rooms.

"What is _wrong _with this college? I asked Tatsuki because I wanted to. That is _all._ If you're going to give anyone hell about, give it to me, but keep her out of it," he finished, decidedly irritated.

The pushy blonde opened her mouth to retaliate but the classroom door slammed open.

"Ichigooooo, where are you?" A young girl stuck her head into the room.

The entire class turned to face Ichigo who was now looking horrified. "N-N-Nell, what are you doing here?"

"Awww, Ichigo, don't be like that," Nell pouted. "I came to see my date to the dance."

Ryoko meanwhile was doing his best not to look too shocked. _Nell was his date?_

"B-but, in the middle of class?!"

"You guys don't seem to be doing much," she said, looking around.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"You guys don't seem to be doing much," she said, looking around. Sure put that right. The girls were fighting over 'Ryoko' and the guys were ogling over her cleavage. Not to mention their teacher had passed out on the floor.

But Rukia took this moment to give her a quick once overe. Metallic green hair. Drop dead gorgeous. And the bouncing jugs.

_No wonder she was number one. _

She shook herself roughly. Now _she_ was playing with numbers? Seriously? Gods, these psychotic girls really did a number on her.

"Wow, look what you guys did to Sensei," Nell murmured, gesturing to the nearly lifeless body lying on the floor. She prodded at the body with one of her heels. "You sure she's not dead? And why's she lying there?"

"Um…there's a good explanation for that…" Ichigo trailed off as Nell looked at him expectantly. Flustered Ichigo did what all men do in times of trauma -- transfer the blame to someone else.

"It's his fault." Ichigo jabbed his finger in Rukia's direction.

Rukia's glared daggers at him. _What did he just do?_

Nell's response turned out to be far from what she expected. What she _expected _from a senior of all people_,_ was a trip down to the dean's office. Or maybe severe chastisement. Or even maybe a slap! But not,

"He's so adorable!"

Rukia had only enough time to gape before she was half-strangled as Nell pounced on her.

"Who are you calling adorable, you old hag," she spluttered, trying to push Nell's chest off her face. "And I can't breathe with these melons in my face."

"Hag? Melons? How rude," Nell scoffed. "But you're so cute I'll just have to excuse it."

~__~__~__~__~__~

Ichigo watched in shock as his date continued to half-strangle Ryoko. He wasn't sure what was irritating him more, Nell's behavior or Ryoko's fake repulsion.

_Fake? Isn't it that you want it to be fake? _Great. Now his conscience was an ass. It had been quiet all freakin' year. Why pick now to make a come back and ruin his oh-so-peaceful life?

_Of course it had to be fake. What guy would be repulsed by Nell? _

_Well…_

_Shut up. Just shut up. _

_If you say so. King. But…_

Ichigo's internal strife was interrupted by Ryoko's cry.

"You're strangling me! I-can't-breathe!" Ryoko was now trying to kick Nell off. "Ichigo, get your crazy friend _off of me!"_

_BAMN._

"All right! Pay attention for a moment, my cute students." Ichigo turned to see the dean stride into the room followed by a cat, who was looking highly amused.

"Falling in love is all fine and dandy…" Urahara was now standing behind the teacher's desk. He made no move, though, to help the fallen lady beside it. The cat even sat down next to her and started licking his paw. "But you've given your poor teacher a heart attack, and she is now dead." Ichigo wasn't sure if he was joking. His face was impassive…Ichigo wasn't sure if the dean was going to burst out laughing or burst into tears.

"And as you need a substitute, I shall place my cat in charge." The cat jumped on top of the desk, and gazed at the students through his beady yellow eyes.

"That is all! Please give Yoruichi-sama your full undivided attention."

Ichigo stared at Urahara as he walked out the door, dragging the lifeless body of the teacher behind him. The students were left behind looking flabbergasted. The cat purred.

What the hell?

~__~__~__~__~__~

When the dean walked in, Rukia couldn't have been happier. Surely he would remove this raving nightmare off of her. But as his speech went on, she realized that no such thing would happen. He left a cat in charge. A cat! It was if he was going out of his way to support these…these…foul actions that she had the misfortune to fall under.

"What kind of dean is he," she demanded indignantly. "Surely a proper leader would not leave a cat in charge!"

Nell laughed. "Your bad-boy act is so _cute._"

"Bad-boy act!? Cute?"

"Yes, care for me to elaborate?"

Rukia looked horrified.

"No thanks."

Nell chuckled and stood up. "It's too bad you're so short." Rukia's mouth fell open. _Oh no she didn't. _She rose indignantly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Nell quirked an eyebrow.

"Just that you've got nothing on my Ichigo." _Her…Ichigo?_

"Y-you're Ichigo?!" She spluttered.

Nell frowned slightly. "Of course he's mine."

Rukia gaped at her.

"Ano…"

Rukia and Nell turned to see Tatsuki staring at them.

"What," the two hissed.

"The bell already rang," she snapped. "If you two want to be asses and flirt all day that's fine with me, but can you guys get off my desk so that I can get my stuff?"

Rukia was shocked. The class of eyes had vanished instantly leaving behind only Tatsuki, Nell and Ichigo.

"F-Flirt?! With Nell?" Rukia couldn't have been more outraged. "Are you serious?"

"First names already, huh? If you liked me, you just could have said so," Nell laughed. "You didn't have to be so defensive back there." Rukia silently cursed her tongue's betrayal.

"Move Kuchiki-san. I need my stuff."

Rukia could only gape in disbelief as Tatsuki pushed her aside. If she didn't know better, she'd think that her friend was mad at her. But for what? For insulting Nell? Surely she wasn't that shallow…

"I'll see you later, _Kuchiki-san_." Tatsuki walked out the room.

Ichigo burst out laughing. "Man, you've really messed up now."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Ichigo, while you explain to Ryoko-kun the mysteries of women, I'm going to go catch a bite to eat. I'll see you later?"

He could barely manage a nod, he was laughing so hard.

Rukia was enraged. "You idiot, what just happened?"

Ichigo was rolling around on the ground, tears streaming down his face. "You… are…so…dense," he said between spurts of laughter.

"Ichigo! Answer me, you fool!"

When he saw the genuine look of confusion on her face, his laughter slowed and he sat up. "You really don't know?"

"Yes, I don't know." She crossed her arms. "You're taking too much enjoyment in this."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Help me up then," he said, extending his hand. "All that laughing wore me out. I can barely move."

"Help you up? You're the size of a mammoth!"

Ichigo glared at her. "Do you want me to tell you or not?"

She gritted her teeth. "Fine." Rukia grabbed his hand and proceeded to pull him up. He wasn't kidding. He literally couldn't stand up.

"What do you weigh, like five hundred pounds?"

"Shut up midget."

After a couple of seconds of fruitless pulling Ichigo groaned. "Is this really the strength of the only person in this school to beat me at kendo?"

"S-shut up. Your heavy."

"You're too weak for this job, eh?" Ichigo quirked an eyebrow.

With a growl, Rukia put all her strength into one last desperate attempt. Ichigo rose a whole two feet off the ground before gravity made itself apparent and started pulling down on him, hard. But he wasn't going down alone.

_Thud._

Rukia groaned, opening an eye to see that she was sprawled on top of Ichigo, now lying on the ground looking thoroughly disgruntled. A faint blush stained her cheeks.

"What the bloody hell, midget?!" Ichigo opened his eyes to see his roommate's violet ones staring right back at him.

"R-Ryoko?"

Coming to her senses, Rukia slapped Ichigo as hard as she possibly could.

Ichigo clasped his cheek in shock as Rukia stood up and dusted off her pants.

"That's for throwing me down again," she grumbled, putting on a frown. That wasn't true of course. It was mainly to hide her red face. It wasn't for naught though. With that slap, she had somehow managed to get rid of that damned blush.

"You jerk," Ichigo muttered, rubbing his cheek. "That hurt!"

Rukia sighed. "Sorry." She offered up a hand. Ichigo eyed it suspiciously. _Wasn't he acting a bit too nice?_

"No thanks," he grumbled. "See what happened the last time you offered to help me."

She frowned slightly. "I said I was sorry."

Ichigo pulled himself up. "Hey…can I ask you something?"

"What?" Rukia glared at him. If it wasn't bad enough he was making her emotions go hay-wire. Now he was asking questions?

~__~__~__~__~__~

"Hey…can I ask you something?"

"What?" Ryoko glared at him, and Ichigo could feel himself heating up.

"It was like…" Ichigo cupped his hands and made squishy gestures.

~__~__~__~__~__~

Rukia's face went blood red. Had she forgotten the bindings? Or perhaps it was because his hands had been directly on her…

"Stop that!" She kicked him in the shin. "Don't make obscene gestures!"

"Well how else was I supposed to put it?" Ichigo looked away, slightly embarrassed.

"Well yeah, fine then." Rukia sighed. Nii-sama was going to kill her.

"I'm…a girl…" Rukia averted her eyes. She could feel her face start to heat up. The accursed blush was making it's second appearance.

"EHHHHH?!"

"You don't have to sound so shocked," Rukia muttered glaring at him.

~__~__~__~__~__~

"You don't have to sound so shocked," Ryoko muttered glaring at Ichigo.

Tatsuki had watched the entire scene from the doorway. From the part where Ryoko had fallen on Ichigo, to the confession, to the hysterics and she had never felt more awful.

Ryoko was a girl.

Tatsuki clenched her fist. What was this? She shouldn't have come back for her pencil bag, at least then she wouldn't have to know. Maybe there was some merit in that old saying, _ignorance is bliss. _It was bliss…it was…

"Why…are you…?"

"Disguised as a guy?"

"Er…yeah."

"Nii-sama thought it'd be safer."

"Nii-sama?"

"Sh-shut up. He's over-protective…" Tatsuki could just imagine the sort of pout he…correction she was wearing.

"So what's your real name?"

Tatsuki couldn't listen anymore. She pushed away from the door. It was better if they didn't see her. But as she made her way from the room, she couldn't help but overhear Ryoko's reply.

"It's Rukia. Kuchiki, Rukia."

~__~__~__~__~__~

"Tatsuki! Let's go eat lunch. Everyone's waiting," Orihime waved, clutching a bento. Tatsuki was walking towards her, but her head was bent.

"Sorry Orihime…I don't feel like eating."

"Eh?" Orihime's smile dropped. "Tatsuki? Are you okay?"

She didn't receive a reply. Instead she heard her mumble as she walked by,

"Rukia huh? It somehow fits her."

Orihime stared at her friends retreating back. _Rukia?_

~__~__~__~__~__~

Nell walked away from the room looking happy. That little boy was adorable…though it was too bad he hadn't let her get in a proper hug. Didn't matter. She'd get another hug from Ichigo later.

"Nell-san…"

Nell paused to see Aizen walking towards her. "Yes, sensei?"

"Would you call together the members for me? I want to distribute some papers for the next meeting…"

Nell smiled. "Sure.""But there's a new member I need you to get as well." Her eyebrows shot up.

"New member?"

"Yes…he goes by the name of Kuchiki, Ryoko."

~__~__~__~__~__~

**Ehhhh…seems like that one was really short too. D: But I didn't want you guys thinking I was dead or I dropped this or something because of all of those wonderful reviews. Seriously. If it wasn't for you guys, I would have dropped this fic a loooong time ago. **

**Ah, I apologize for the waaaay OC-ness of Tatsuki and Nell. Somehow that was the only way I could properly work them into the story.**

**I also apologize for any and all mistakes. **

**Please review! It's **_**literally **_**keeping this fic alive. =)**

**On a side note, when I first started this story, I used to think that anything above 1000 words was reaaaalllly long. XD So much that, when I went back to look at the first chapter earlier this month, I was shocked to see it was so short. Show's how much of an idiot I was then. XD**

**Next Time:**

**The club's first meeting? The mysterious papers are…**

**And it seems that the Dance is soon! Dance preparations are underway…and now how will Ichigo handle the roommate situation, now that he knows Ryoko is actually Rukia?**

**//end.**

**(Side-note: I actually wasn't planning on making Nell Ichigo's date. It was supposed to be Karin (in a non-creepy way, because she wanted to see what a college dance was like)…but somehow it ended up being Nell instead. XD**

**Anyways…**

**Until next time**

**^_______^**


End file.
